Numb
by SkylertTH
Summary: When Spyro's temper is shown, his path changes forever. What will become of the dragon of destiny and the others? SpyroxCynder. The story itself is an alternate vesrion before The Eternal Night and Dawn of the Dragon came out.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Spyro the Dragon and related characters belong to Krome Studios.

Chapter 1

Spyro stood outside on the porch of the dragon temple. His birth right was here, ever since he was found by the dragon Ignitus things in his life have changed. He once had a peaceful life with his foster family, but he always knew that he was different. He was larger then his foster parents and Sparx, then everything changed when he met Ignitus. His life went from peaceful living, to an apocalypse destiny. He didn't like it one bit and it felt like he was always the one that everyone would turn to. Why couldn't the elder dragons do anything? If they were so powerful why not do it themselves? He hated it.

He didn't ask for destiny to choose him as a purple dragon, so why was it him? Why did fate give him the cards he held now? Nothing made sense, he hide his anger and hate towards what he was from Ignitus, knowing that the elder dragon would be upset and the world would end. One reason he was fighting was for his foster family, he knew that his true home was with the elders but to him…it didn't feel right. He was always tested constantly, learning how to control his true powers within; or as Ignitus would call it "The true dragon within you".

It was probably him unleashing his anger and hate onto his foes. Fighting seemed to calm him down, using his anger and hatred being the purple dragon caused him. He rarely showed it though; in fact it is one of his darkest secrets in his heart. Not even Sparx, his closest friend knew of his hate for his destiny. Though he would never show it to the dragon elders, he would rather be a dragonfly instead of a dragon. He did however respect them, not just for their knowledge but for their power and abilities. If it wasn't for them he probably wouldn't have beaten Cynder.

His once mortal enemy turned out to be a dragon of his age and size; he was shocked to see that she was just a puppet to the Dark Master and nearly lost her life because of the foolish path she followed for him. It almost made him pity the female dragon. She was a powerful enemy that just turned out to be a mere pawn for the Dark Master. He found it almost pathetic too, but there was a part of him that told him to save her. What that part was he didn't know, but he didn't feel angry or hateful with her around. He looked up at the moon; it seemed to shine brightly on the world as it hung in the sky.

It was another thing that calmed his hate and anger down. Nothing seemed wrong when he looked at the moon, perhaps it was because he was born under it. He smiled to himself, he could always relay on the moon when all seemed bleak to make him feel good. That was something only his foster family and Cynder could do. Maybe life wasn't so bad after all; he had to admit that everything was fine for now. He heard footsteps behind him. At first he thought it was going to be Ignitus with another training course. He snarled at that thought and turned around, it wasn't Ignitus at all.

In front of him was Cynder, the black dragon that he just recently saved from being taken by the Dark Master again. She saw the snarl that he just made and looked a bit confused, Spyro immediately caught himself and shook his head to regain control on his anger.

"Sorry," he said as he turned around, "I thought you were something else."

"Something else?" Cynder asked, walking up beside him, "Who else besides me, you, and the dragon elders live here?"

"_Damn, she has a good point._" Spyro thought, Cynder wasn't stupid and she could catch on to him real easy.

"Look Spyro, I can sense that you're upset with something." Cynder said, turning her head to look at him, "what is it?"

"I…" Spyro muttered, "I dunno…I just feel like something bad is gonna happen that's all."

"Well of course something bad will happen, but it won't be today." Cynder said, smiling a bit, "the Dark Master isn't completely back yet Spyro there's no need to get tense."

He didn't know why she was being so kind hearted to him now when just moments ago she was trying to rip him apart. Then again, she was corrupted by the Dark Master and it made her do things that she wouldn't have done normally. Spyro turned to look at her directly this time.

"What do you know about being tense?" he asked, almost coldly but he managed to keep his voice calm and nice.

"Trust me, after being raised by the Dark Master and his minions I know what tension is." Cynder said, smiling a bit at him.

"Yeah but you're lucky Cynder." Spyro said, looking down at the ground now. "I'm the purple dragon, I'm the one that has to be counted on all the time."

"What do you mean?" she asked, looking a bit confused at what he just said.

"I mean that you're not the one that has to be looked at to be the 'hero of everything'." Spyro said, a little of his hate rose in his voice, but he managed to not loose his temper.

"Spyro if that's what you're worrying about there's no reason for you to do so," Cynder said, "you're not alone in this fight."

Alone? Did she just say that he wasn't alone in this battle? He felt like she telling him something that Ignitus would say. He looked up at her again and noticed that she was smiling more friendly now; he turned away and looked up at the moon again.

"Not alone? Yeah…." He said, knowing in his heart that he did most of the fighting.

"Yes Spyro," Cynder said, "you're not alone. You have Sparx, me, and the elders. We all want to stop the Dark Master…"

"Sparx I can understand," Spyro said, almost interrupting her, "You I know want to get back at him for tricking you but the elders barely did anything at all." This time he sounded cold to the elders, Cynder drew back in shock at what he just said.

"W-What did you just say?" She asked.

"Look at it this way Cynder," he began, "the elders had all these powers within them and could easily defeat everyone in their way but me? I'm the one they send to do all the fighting…I've learn every type of breath from the elders and what does it get me? A bad feeling that's all."

Cynder frowned at Spyro this time; he wasn't saying things that he would normally say at all. He was confused, full of hate, and anger. But was it towards the elders themselves or was it towards himself?

"Spyro," Cynder began, "I don't think you should be feeling bad about it at all, you were chosen out of thousand of eggs to be the purple dragon, do you know how much other dragons wanted to be purple? The purple dragon masters all the elements and can use them to his own free will, you should be proud!"

Spyro looked at her again, this time he wasn't smiling. This time he felt as if Cynder had just joined the elders wanting him to defeat the Dark Master. He turned away, almost loosing his temper but he kept it down.

"I don't want to be proud….I just want things to be peaceful." He said, which deep down in his heart knew that true peace would only come when the Dark Master was defeated.

"Spyro peace isn't just given; it has to be fought for." Cynder said, nudging his neck with her head, "I know things can be hard…but we have to fight."

She was right, of course she was right. He knew very well that for peace to ever come again they would have to fight for it. But how many lives would have to be lost for it? He didn't know, he meet many good people as he raced to save the other elders and recently learned a lot of them fell in combat against the Dark Master's forces. It made him feel guilty, guilty for not being there to protect them.

"You're right Cynder," he said, this time making his tone more cheerful and hopeful, "we can't give up the fight, not now."

Cynder smiled at him, he knew that deep down she wasn't a bad dragon at all. The two sat outside and stared at the moon all night, admiring the glow that it was giving off which seemed to lighten all of night. Spyro smiled to himself, he may have hated how he was always relied on in battle but he was doing so for good reasons. He fought for his foster family, the peace of the land and for Cynder. He didn't realize it, but the black dragon wrapped her tail around his, sharing a peaceful moment together.

However, not all things were peaceful. In the void of the Dark Master, his forces grow and grow. He wasn't too happy with the empty void that Cynder made, she was one of his finest fighters and because of this purple dragon, this 'Spyro' his minions called him, she was no longer on his side. He sat on his thrown, hidden in the shadows before him pondering. What would be his next move? What would he use on the dragons now? He smiled as his newest idea came to him, snapping his fingers his assistant and right hand appeared before him.

"What does my lord request?" the figure said, his voice dark and mysterious.

"I need you to go out and spy on the dragons," the Dark Master said, "spy on this purple dragon, find his weakness see if we can use it against him."

"Of course my lord," the figure bowed low to his king with respect, "anything for the dark master."

"Listen closely though Kel'thuzard," the dark one said, "failure is not an approvable, find his weakness or anything we can use against the dragons and report back to me immediately."

Kel'thuzard smiled, revealing his black teeth. Then he vanished into the dragon world. The place where he had just appeared was the swamp, home of the dragonflies. He stood tall, about 6'3 ft. His body was that of a serpent, long with shiny green scales while his top half was that of a skeleton. He knew that he would have to move quickly if he was to gain anything for his master.

"I must move," he told himself, "I do not want to attract attention here."

The gorgon then became one with the shadows, slithering across the ground out of sight of anyone or anything. He quickly made his way through the swamp, gaining ever so close to the Dragon Temple. He kept moving until finally it was in full plain sight of his vision. Perfect, the situation was just perfect. Now he could fore fill his mission for his master. Being careful to not make any sudden noises he slithered into the temple, searching for the purple dragon.

His search was not in vain, Spyro and Cynder were outside on the porch staring at the moon. He smiled to himself, his target was in plain sight but he couldn't do anything just yet. His master's orders were to watch Spyro and see if they could use any weaknesses to his advantage. The gorgon's shadow soon blended with Spyro's, so he could spy on the young dragon more effectively.

Spyro didn't even know that his shadow was now one with Kel'thuzard. He was too busy just admiring the moonlight with Cynder. He turned to her and noticed that she was yawning; he smiled a bit at her.

"You should go to bed Cyn," he said, "Ignitus would worry if you weren't in your bed."

"Yeah I know…" Cynder said, "He's like a father to me always making sure that I'm ok."

"He tends to do that," Spyro said, "he feels like he failed…"

The two young dragons both stood in silence for a bit, they knew how Ignitus felt about his past. It was a topic that was never really brought up between them or the elders. Spyro cleared his throat to get her attention again.

"Um…I'm gonna need my tail." He said.

"Oh…Oh!" Cynder exclaimed, unwrapping her tail from his, a bit red in the face, "Sorry about that I guess I wasn't paying attention."

Spyro chuckled at her being more girly then when she was trying to kill him. The young dragons both turned and headed towards their separate beds both tired from the day. Kel'thuzard knew that he would have to wait for daybreak to begin learning about Spyro's weaknesses, but it would be worth the wait. He was his master's most trusted servant and he would not fail him nor would he dare too.

The next day began with the usual breakfast for the dragons, Spyro being the last one to wake up. He headed towards the room were the elders and Cynder were waiting. She looked up from her meal and smiled at him friendly, he returned the same smile. His attention was immediately driven from her to Ignitus whose voice caught his attention.

"I trust you enjoyed over sleeping again Spyro." He said, sternly and fiercely.

"I'm sorry Ignitus…" he said, not looking at his eyes.

"That's not good enough young one," Ignitus said, "you can not afford to over sleep now, the world is at stake and we need you ready."

"Well I've been working hard and your training courses have taken a lot of energy out of me, how can I fight the enemy if I'm tired?" Spyro asked, trying to keep his anger down.

"You must learn to wake up when you are needed or else the world would be lost." The elder dragon said, noticing Spyro's tone changing.

"Like I said," the young dragon said as his voice gaining a hint of anger in it, "I'm sorry about that."

Spyro couldn't stand this, it was always the same thing with Ignitus and it never changed. He did one thing wrong and the elder dragon would completely be all over his case nor matter what it was. From over sleeping to not focusing and it made him angry and hateful to him.

"Sorry isn't good enough Spyro," Ignitus said, "We need you at your best do you understand?"

Spyro looked up at Ignitus, this time his anger was shown to his elder and the rest of the dragons. He snarled at Ignitus, showing his gleaming teeth at him. His eyes shrunk as his anger grew towards the big dragon, he was about to spew a flame towards him but he stopped when he saw the other dragons and Cynder look at him. He caught a hold of himself quickly; his anger had gotten to him and he had just shown it to them all.

"Spyro…" Cynder said; her voice now worried for her friend, "why did you do that?"

Spyro turned to her, his face full of guilt and shame at what he just shown to them. His secret was out now; he looked at Ignitus who remained shocked at the dragon's temper that was shown. The other elders were surprised as well at what had just happened. Spyro's eyes filled up with tears, that's when he turned and ran from them. He ran hard and fast out of the temple as fast as he could.

"Spyro!" Cynder yelled, she tried to go after him but was stopped by Ignitus' claw.

"No young one," the mighty elder said, "he needs time to himself."

Spyro ran towards the forest, not stopping for anything. He ran until his legs were completely tired. He soon found himself looking at his reflection; he snarled and spewed flames from his mouth at the lake. Hate ruled over him, he knew it and there was nothing he could do to deny it anymore. He had shown it to his father figure; he knew that he Ignitus would never forgive him

Kel'thuzard smiled to himself as he slithered away from Spyro's shadow; this was the perfect thing to report to his lord, the Dark Master. He would be rewarded greatly for this achievement for he knew what Spyro's weaknesses were now and it was time to use them.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Kel'thuzard arrived back in his master's domain as soon as he had just gathered the info he desired. He approached the Dark Master's throne room and pushed the doors open. The room was silent; it was typical to be quiet. No one would dare cause trouble in the throne room, not unless they wanted their bodies ripped apart. He slithered his way up to the throne and bowed low to his master, whose eyes were piercing yellow, even through the darkness that surrounded him was completely black his eyes could be seen from a mile away.

"What did you find out my servant?" he asked, his voice cool as winter air.

"My lord," the gorgon said, "I have been spying on the dragon ever since you set me out to find anything we could use and I believe I've found very interesting points."

"Go on…" the Dark Master said, now interested into what his gorgon had discovered.

"The dragon from what I've seen has three weaknesses, all of them we can use to our advantage." Kel'thuzard said, "Rage, hate, and his petty love for those close to him."

"I see," the Dark Master said, "What is his rage directed at?"

"His rage is towards how the dragon elders always test him and scold him for even the slightest mishap; ironically his hate is mixed with his rage towards the elders as well." The giant snake said, "Those are his two big ones."

"And his love?" the dark lord asked.

"That incidentally is his strongest one," Kel'thuzard admitted, "he loves his foster family, somewhat the elders, and his passion for Cynder seems to be strong."

The name Cynder made the shadows surrounding the Dark Master burn with anger. Kel'thuzard's eyes widen at this sight, it was only when his master was truly angry that the shadows would burn. He bowed low to him, fear almost ruling his entire body now.

"Forgive me master," he begged, "I did not mean to speak the name of the traitor, please do not be angry with me."

The flames seemed to die down around the Dark Master. Kel'thuzard looked up; they were back to normal now and no longer burned with anger. The gorgon was relieved to see this sight. No one wanted the master angry to do so would mean a painful death. The Dark Master's eyes closed for a bit, thinking of what he could do to use this advantage towards his enemy.

"I see…" he said, "so those are his weak points….Kel'thuzard."

"Yes my lord?"  
"I want you to appear before Spyro, use the powers of darkness to fill his mind with his rage and hate make him our soldier." The Dark Master spoke, his voice confident about his plan.

"Make him our soldier?" Kel'thuzard asked, "My lord how does that benefit us?"

"Simple Kel'thuzard," the void said, "we can use his rage and hate to unleash his powers on our enemies and destroy those who dare stand in our way. Do you not see what this could do? This could turn the tide of everything in our battle with those elders and the traitor would dare not harm her closet friend."

The gorgon smiled, now he understood his master's plan. It was perfect and he knew it, with one last bow he took his leave to return to the dragon realm. There he would begin his new mission. Turning Spyro against his allies would be simple, for even those with strong wills can not refuse his offerings.

Spyro didn't leave the lake he had just ran to, he dared not go back to the temple he didn't want them to see his anger. He roared in anger as he spat flame after flame from his mouth towards the lake. Each flame was so hot that it made the water steam, he growled as he drew in another breath and spewed ice from his mouth. Freezing the lake and cooling it down. He stared at his reflection at the frozen lake; he saw his anger in his eyes. No matter what he did he could not get rid of it, it seemed like it was a shadow always watching over him not ever letting him out of its sight.

"Why…" he asked, "why did I do that?"

He growled in anger at himself and spat out another flame towards the lake, this time melting the ice. Nothing could seem to calm him down now, the moon wasn't out, Sparx was with his family on vacation until tomorrow, and Cynder….Cynder. He literally smashed his head on the closet rock next to him in anger. He had just shown his worst side in front of her. How could he ever face her again now? She was special to him, not just because she was his age and size but next to Sparx she was one of his best friends. Now he felt like he betrayed her trust, Ignitus as well was shocked at his anger.

"How can I go back now?" he asked himself, "after what I just did they would never forgive me…"

"Oh but you don't need to go back." A voice said, making Spyro's head shoot up. The young dragon spun around to see where the voice was coming from, he then saw something slithering behind a rock. He snarled and spat out a powerful flame towards the rock, melting it from the flame's heat.

"You might as well stop hiding from me," Spyro said, "I know you're there."

It was there Spyro met Kel'thuzard, the giant gorgon showed himself to the young dragon. Spyro was both surprised and ready to fight, he knew there was something about this monster, he could smell it. The gorgon smiled friendly at the young dragon, holding his hand out in friendship.

"Now now Spyro I am not here to fight you," Kel'thuzard said, "I am here to talk to you."

"Why would I ever want to talk to some gorgon who has the smell of the Dark Master all over him?" Spyro asked, his voice snarling.

"Think of this as a truce," Kel'thuzard said, "allow me to make you a deal young one."

Spyro's muscles slowly lifted off the tension that was in them, he didn't know why but he began to trust this gorgon for a bit. If it was a fight that he was looking for he would have already attacked him. He nodded his head in agreement with Kel'thuzard's proposal and the gorgon smiled.

"Excellent," he said, "now tell me Spyro have you been experiencing any anger or rage lately?"

"What's it to you?" Spyro coldly asked.

"Well as you can see I am one of the Dark Master's most trusted servants, I can sense your anger and hate. You do not show them to those you care for because you fear them rejecting you is that not right?"

Spyro snarled and spat a flame at Kel'thuzard, who moved his head to the left to avoid getting hit by the powerful flame. The dragon's anger shined all over his body, Kel'thuzard smiled at this.

"Now what did I just say?" he asked, "I told you I am not here to fight."

"Yeah well you should stay out of my way before I use my anger on you." Spyro said, turning and walking away from Kel'thuzard.

"Ah but is it not true?" the gorgon asked, "Ignitus does nothing but constantly push you and scold you correct? He always relies on your power and not his own, is he not weak?"

Spyro stopped dead cold, the words Kel'thuzard just spoke were his deepest and darkest secrets in his mind. How did this weird creature know what he was thinking? He turned to the gorgon, his face now confused at how his darkest thoughts were so easily revealed to him.

"How did you know?" he asked.

"I told you, I can sense you're anger and hate towards the elders." Kel'thuzard said, "If you want I can help you show them that you're not just a powerful dragon, but a force they should know not push."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that if you let me, I shall show you how to gain their respect and fear from your anger young one. Trust me and I shall grant your wish." The gorgon said, holding out his hand.

"…What about those I care for? Will they get hurt?" Spyro asked, thoughts of Cynder and Sparx entering his mind quickly.

"Well you'll just have to see won't you?" Kel'thuzard said. The young dragon was unsure at first, but he slowly raised his front left foot and placed it in Kel'thuzard's hand. The gorgon smiled as darkness began to envelope them and soon they were gone.

Meanwhile back at the dragon temple, Cynder stood out on the porch looking for Spyro. Ever since breakfast this morning she has been worried about him and what she just saw. He would never get angry from what she remembered, something was wrong and she could feel it. She stood there, ever watching to see if Spyro would come into view. She had no luck, Spyro didn't appear. This began to worry her, Spyro could be hurt and she couldn't do anything.

"Spyro…" she said, "where are you?"

Night began to fall and still there was no sign of Spyro anywhere. Now she was really worried, something happened she could feel it. Spyro would never stay out this late, not even if he was hanging out with Sparx who was on vacation until tomorrow. The black dragon sighed; there was no sign of him coming back today. She heard footsteps behind her, she turned around to see who it was and saw Ignitus coming up.

"Young one," he said, "what troubles you?"

"It's Spyro, Ignitus." She said, "He's been gone since breakfast and he's never out this late at all…"

"Spyro had shown us something that not even I saw in him for a long time, until today." The elder dragon said, lowering his head to be near her body.

"What do you mean?" Cynder asked, looking confused.

"His rage and hate," the red dragon said, "I admit that I didn't think about how he would feel with me constantly testing his abilities and being harsh on him…I guess you could say it's my fault."

Cynder had never seen this side of Ignitus before, feeling guilty about this? She couldn't understand why he was saying this now. But then again, she was also too to blame for it in a way. She could have talked to Spyro about what was on his mind, see if she could have helped him but she didn't. Now he was out there somewhere at night when something could easily take you down. She looked down at the ground now, feeling guilty herself.

"I'm guilty as well Ignitus, I could have talked to him about what was wrong but I didn't…I should because he's my best friend but I didn't." she admitted to him, Ignitus looked at her with a small smile.

"Child do not feel sorry," he said, "I am sure that this whole thing will blow over soon. Sooner or later he will have to return to his home then we shall talk it out like mature dragons."

Cynder nodded as he turned around to enter his room for his sleep, maybe he was right. Spyro would return tomorrow after all then she could talk to him again. Her heart skipped when she thought about last night, their tails wrapped around each other, it made her face red while her heart was pounding at the thought. She turned around and went to her room and laid down on her bed, closing her eyes for a good long sleep.

The next day Sparx came to visit the dragons; Cynder was the last one to wake up when she heard the talking between Ignitus and Sparx. Again they were arguing, it was common between those two but this time it was something serious. She got up and walked over to see what was going on. She saw Sparx floating up in front of Ignitus' face, the two arguing like she heard them.

"No we can not do that Sparx," Ignitus said, "Spyro is not here!"

"And leave those who just got attacked for dead? We have to do something Ignitus!" the dragonfly said, his arms folded in front of his chest.

"What's going on?" Cynder asked, now curious about what was going on.

"I was on my way back with mom and dad up the road when we saw this fire on the road, there are some of them still alive but the rest were taken away. I came to get Spyro but big red here is saying no." Sparx said.

"Spyro is missing Sparx; do you really think you don't need him?" Ignitus asked.

"Ignitus look," Cynder began, "Sparx and I will go out there to see what's going on and see if we can help those who are there. Who knows, maybe the fire caught Spyro's attention?"

It took some time, but Ignitus agreed that Sparx and Cynder were to go out and see what the problem was. The duo flew off to the problem, landing on the ground where Sparx noticed the attack was.

"Is this it?" Cynder asked.

"Yeah this is the place all right," Sparx said, "I'd be careful if I were you Cynder."

"Please Sparx, I'm the ex-general of the Dark Master I believe I can handle myself." Cynder said.

"You should heed his words you know," a voice said, "he could be right for once."

The two of them stopped walking as they heard the voice. They looked around to see who said it, it sounded familiar to both of them but they couldn't place their finger on it. Cynder noticed in the flames a silhouette was approaching, the shape was so familiar that it made her hear stop. It couldn't be…the one who caused this attack was…him?


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The silhouette that walked through the flames became visible now. It was Spyro, Cynder's heart was both relieved to see that he was ok, but scared to know why he was here. Sparx's mouth dropped, his old friend was still ok but the fact that he was able to walk through the fire was crazy. Why was Spyro here? How long had he been there? The purple dragon just looked down at Cynder and Sparx, not saying anything but just looking down at them.

"Spyro!" Cynder yelled, "thank goodness you're all right! We thought something happened to you!"

"Hmm…" Spyro said, standing on top of his perch.

"Buddy we've been wondering where you've been, what happened to you?" Sparx asked.

"What happened to me?" Spyro said, repeating Sparx's question, "well let's just say…"

The purple dragon landed in front of both of them, this time both got a good look at him. His once calm and friendly eyes were no longer purple, but now a blood red lust was in them. This shocked his two friends; it was like he completely changed now. Spyro seemed to see that they were shocked and confused to what happened to him. He smiled friendly, though evilly, at them.

"Now come on guys," he said, "don't tell me you're surprised to see me like this."

"What in the world happened to you dude?!" Sparx asked

"Heh, I guess you could say that I had a little 'change of heart'," Spyro said, walking around them, "I meet the Dark Master…"

"You...you what?!" Cynder asked, turning around quickly as Spyro walked on then stopped.

"That's right, I met him." He continued, "He's a powerful being and you know what?" he turned his head towards both of them; "he opened my eyes to the truth."

"Truth?" Sparx asked, "what truth?"

"The dragon elders are nothing but weak fools," Spyro answered him, "all they do is send others to do their jobs for them. Or should I say some_one_ instead of others?" he turned to the two this time, his eyes narrowed, "that someone was always me no matter what it was I was always sent."

"But Spyro," Cynder said, "you're the dragon of prophecy you have to…"

"To what? To fore fill it? Stop the Dark master? Bring peace to the world? Don't lecture me on that garbage Cynder." Spyro said as he interrupted her, "I've heard it more from Ignitus and I don't want to hear it anymore."

"You can't be serious Spyro!" Sparx said, not getting angry, "You're one of the good guys! When did good guys go bad?!"

Spyro glared at Sparx and snarled at him, baring his teeth at his friend. The dragonfly pulled away a bit from the dragon he once knew. Spyro began walking towards the two of them now, a dark aura appearing around his body. The duo moved backwards as he advanced on them, power coursing through his veins, the power Cynder once knew.

"Just like you Sparx," Spyro said, "always asking the stupid questions, never watching your mouth, thinking that you're so important well guess what Sparx…" the dragon said as he stopped moving and his dark aura pulsed, "you're nothing but a coward!"

Spyro spat a powerful flame towards the two of them, Cynder and Sparx were able to dodge it but the flame incinerated what was behind them. Cynder's eyes widened at what she had just saw, the flame Spyro spat was meant to kill them. She looked down at Spyro who smiled at her, he was completely different now. Tears swelled up in her eyes at the sight of him, the kind dragon she knew was no longer there.

"What's wrong Cynder?" Spyro asked, "Afraid of dying? Come down here and fight the power you once had as your own!"

Spyro fired more flames at the black dragon. She dodged them as best as she could. Each one was closer every time though, Spyro was faster then he was before and one hit from the flame could cause serious damage. Cynder looked down at Spyro; the dark aura around him was strong, almost too strong. If they were gonna break it off him they would have to act fast. Her eyes narrowed as she began flying down towards him a fast speeds. Spyro snarled and spat out more flames at Cynder, who rolled to dodge them.

The black dragon rammed into Spyro when she was within range. The two began to wrestle and fight on the ground. Cynder was on the defense while Spyro kept slashing and biting at her trying to slice her open. Cynder dodged his two front claws quickly but was caught off guard by his tail which slammed into her cheek. The black dragon was sent flying back; she slid down the ground causing dust to come up. She forced her self up, noticing that she had a scrap on her right side, some blood was coming out but everything else was ok. She turned her head to Spyro who stood there without showing any feelings of regret.

"A scrap huh?" he asked, "I'll have to do some more damage then."

"Stop this Spyro," Cynder begged, "think about what you're doing!"

"I have."

Spyro opened his wings and flew towards Cynder, this time tackling her to the ground. The purple dragon pulled back his head and threw his head down at her quickly, almost biting her neck. Cynder was able to move just in time, and then she rolled over with him as they scratched and bit at each other. Cynder holding back the most while Spyro was going all out at her. The two dragons stopped rolling as soon as Spyro was on top of Cynder. The black dragon closed her eyes and flung him off her with all the strength she had into a pile of wood.

"I'm sorry Spyro…" she said, getting up while her body ached with pain.

Sparx flew up to Cynder quickly, her wounds were deep but nothing life that could threaten her life, but they were still deep. The dragonfly frowned at this, Spyro would never go this far to hurt someone. Even when Cynder was evil he dared not to cause damage this bad. The black dragon was staring at the pile of wood the whole time, not looking at Sparx.

"Do you think he's ok?" Sparx asked.

"I dunno Sparx…" Cynder said, her voice quiet and sad, "but if he is we have to get him back to the elders."

Sparx nodded as they began to move towards the wood. However before they got there a massive fireball was spat out at them. This time they couldn't dodge it and were hit dead hard. Sparx and Cynder fell to the ground, not only injured but badly burnt now. Cynder raised her head up and saw Spyro walking towards them, he had received some bad cuts from the sharp pieces of wood but that didn't seem to stop him. He snarled in anger at Cynder.

"Now you've really made me **mad**." He said.

The purple dragon just walked over towards Cynder, who tried to force herself up but couldn't. He snarled and bit down on her neck with crushing force, causing the black dragon to scream in pain at this action. Spyro took back his head, the blood of Cynder on his teeth. He looked down at her as she weakly moved her head to look at him, tears forming in her eyes.

"Spyro…why?" she asked weakly.

"Look at you," he said coldly, "you've become weak, useless, you once had the power to destroy an army Cynder. Too bad you couldn't ever do that right."

"Spyro this isn't you!" Cynder said, desperate to change him back, "please stop this! You're under the Dark Master's influence! Fight it Spyro!"

"I don't need you to tell me what to do!" he yelled as he drew up his claw, slashing her across the cheek. Cynder yelled in pain again, this time the slash was near her eye, Spyro snorted at her.

"So this is how the mighty Cynder falls."

He raised his claw again to slash at her, but he was smacked by a breath of ice. The purple dragon was sent flying towards away from Cynder and Sparx, taken by surprised from the attack. He shook his head and looked back to where he was attacked, snarling in anger.

"Who attacks me?! Show yourself!" he roared.

The one who attacked Spyro walked out, the dragon stood about the same height as Spyro but his build was different. Its shoulders were broader and stronger, his scales where white as pure snow while its underbelly was light blue. Its short tail had a sort of icicle on the tip of it and its wings looked completely frozen. It had only one horn on his head, the other one was either cut off or broken; the dragon's eyes were a piercing light blue. It stared down at Cynder.

"Are you all right now?" it asked, its voice showed that it was a male.

"I…I think so…" Cynder replied, trying to get up. The new dragon stopped her with one of his wings.

"Don't get up, your injuries are deep you must stay down for now." He told her, seeming wise.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" Spyro asked, angry at the fact that a new dragon appeared.

The new dragon turned his attention towards Spyro, his icy eyes now glaring at the young dragon.

"The purple dragon," He said, I was expecting you to be more heroic then evil."

"Aw, well I'm sorry to disappoint you. Now get out of my way!" Spyro yelled, the white dragon didn't move. Spyro snarled and spat out a flame towards him, quickly taking action the new dragon shot back his own blast, the icy breath was able to cool down the flame.

"You will not harm them anymore purple dragon." The white dragon said, opening his wings and taking off into the air.

Spyro followed after him, flying at him full speed and spitting flame after flame at the new dragon. The white dragon was able to dodge the attacks quickly and effectively. He flew straight up into the air; Spyro following closely, the white dragon turned his head back and saw him catching up. He stopped in midair and flew down at Spyro, taking the purple dragon by surprise.

The white dragon began to wrestle in the air with Spyro, dodging any bite attempts or slash attempts from him. He slammed his head on Spyro's underbelly with a powerful strike, the purple dragon's eyes shrunk at the pain he just felt. This new dragon was proving to be a very powerful enemy to fight. He growled in frustration and flipped the white dragon over, this time biting him on the neck; however the white dragon didn't seem to scream in pain at this bite. He too grabbed Spyro's neck with his mouth as the two tumbled towards the ground entangled. The two dragons kept wrestling in the air until the ground was coming in close. The white dragon saw this and let go of Spyro's neck while he kicked him away from his body.

Spyro spun around in the air a bit before regaining his balance. The white dragon that he was fighting was directly in front of him. He snarled in anger and spat out a powerful flame at the new dragon again, this was countered by the dragon's ice breath though. The two forces clashed and began pushing each other back and forth; no side was giving in to the brunt force of the other attack. Finally after a while the two forces became so strong that a small explosion happened. The force of the wave sent both Spyro and the white dragon back onto the ground, each one crashing into the ground.

Meanwhile during the battle Cynder forced herself to get up. Her body was recovering from the fatal wounds she received, though this was common in many dragons to regenerate fast. She looked down at Sparx who was dusting himself off, trying to get ash off his wings.

"Man I can NOT believe he just did that to us," the dragonfly said, seeming bitter, "I mean we're his friends aren't we? I thought he was suppose to scorch the bad guys but noooo he's burns us!"

"That's because Spyro's been filled with a lie," Cynder said, helping Sparx up, "the Dark Master took the evil in his heart and made it stronger."

"You mean he can take the evil in anyone's heart and make it use their host?" Sparx asked.

"No…some people can resist it well while others can't," Cynder explained, "Spyro has a strong will but because he let his anger get to him it made him vulnerable to the Dark Master's control."

"Oh…great." Sparx said grimly.

Spyro got up, shaking the dirt that was on him off. He looked up across from him and saw the white dragon walking back to him. He had some cuts and bruises but that was it. The purple dragon growled low at the new dragon who stopped moving as soon as he came within attacking range for Spyro. However before he could begin his attack though Spyro had one question on his mind about this dragon.

"Who are you and were did you come from?" he asked.

"My name is Cryo," the white dragon said, "I am an ice dragon from the north, trained in the ways of honor and respect. I came down here to lend my services to the Dragon Elders and the legendary purple dragon that saved the ex-general of the Dark Master. But now I see you have been taken over by the Dark Master and his minion…Kel'thuzard."

"How do you know of Kel'thuzard?" Spyro asked, kinda surprised to see that this dragon knew about the gorgon.

"I know of him because he stole my horn," Cryo said, "and I will make the gorgon pay dearly for his mistake."

Spyro heard enough, he began to charge at Cryo, lowering his head down to stab him in the chest. Cryo did not stand and wait as well, he began to charge at Spyro as well, and despite the fact that he had one horn. The two dragons charged at each other until there was a sickening thud from their crash. The two were now pushing each other with all their power, each side not stopping themselves from pushing. Spyro snarled as he pushed himself hard to push Cryo back. However the white dragon was stronger then Spyro was in physical strength. He dug his rear claws into the ground and with a mighty push shoved Spyro half way across the field. Spyro crashed into a tree and hit the ground hard, he tried to force himself up but he had no strength left.

Cryo walked up to Spyro and looked down at him, he frowned at the purple dragon. Surely disappointed at the battle he just had with him. He raised his short tail up, he was about to end the fight by taking Spyro's life. However Cynder saw this and ran up to Cryo, grabbing his tail with her's. The white dragon looked at her, confused to why she was stopping him.

"Why stop me from sending his soul from evil?" he asked.

"I was once under the control of the Dark Master," Cynder said, "he helped me get out of that path, it's time I returned the favor."

Cryo thought about it for a while, but nodded his head in agreement with her. Cynder lowered her neck to Spyro's face, the purple dragon looked at her. He was confused as well, he came near to killing her yet she was still helping him.

"Why help me…when I nearly killed you?" he asked.

"…I care for you Spyro, that's why." Cynder said.

Before Spyro could reply however, an aura of darkness appeared around him. The darkness became so dark that it engulfed him completely before disappearing slowly. Cynder's eyes widen at this, she tried to jump after Spyro but Cryo stopped her from doing so. The black dragon's eyes were full of tears as she fought to go after him, however the darkness soon dissolved into nothingness. The Dark Master had his new minion once again. Tears fell off Cynder's face, she had just missed her chance to grab Spyro. She fell to the ground sobbing, her one chance to save him gone.

"**SPYRO!**" she yelled, her cry however was in vein as nothing but nothingness answered her. Cynder cried for two hours, Sparx barely able to help her, his eyes full of tears as well. Cryo stood there, almost sadden at the sight of the black dragon's agony of loosing her closest friend. Cynder looked up, hot tears were still in her eyes as she gazed at the spot Spyro last was.

"I promise you Spyro…" she began, "I will find a way to save you…no matter what."

She got up and turned to Cryo and nodded. The white dragon nodded back and opened his wings and took off. Sparx flew after him to steer him in the right direction, however Cynder stayed at the same spot for a few more minutes before leaving. She kissed the ground that Spyro was on and turned around. She opened her wings and took off, flying after Cryo and Sparx. There was only two things on her mind, how would she tell the elders of what just happened and how would they get Spyro back? The answers didn't seem to come easy for her at all.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It was late at night, not only had the past two days go slowly for Cynder but the dragon elders were in so much shock about Spyro turning evil that no one spoke for some time. The new dragon, Cryo, made his place though. Ignitus recruited him onto the clan, knowing that with a powerful dragon of his age with them would increase their chances of winning this war. Cynder really didn't even notice him there most of the time; she would spend her time alone with no one to be with. She walked into Spyro's room one time, looking at the empty bed he once slept on. Tears began to fill up her eyes again; Spyro was one of the few people that could comfort her when she cried. The black dragon merely turned away from the bed, tears falling silently off her face.

She made her way to the porch she and Spyro sat at during most of the nights. More then ever she wished she could go back to the night before he ran off, if only she talked to him and found out what it was that was causing him so much anger before the previous event. The moon was out tonight, looking up at it made her smile a bit. The giant rock in space seemed to have that effect on people no matter how bad they felt. She thought back at how Spyro would always look at the moon with her, the two sharing a moment with each other that made it seem the hardships of a world were put to rest.

She heard footsteps approach from behind her, turning her neck to see who it was. It was none other then Cryo, who seemed to know what she was going through. The white dragon walked up to Cynder's side and kept looking forward.

"You mustn't give up on him." He said.

"What do you mean?" Cynder asked.

"I know what your friend is going through, I was once a servant of Kel'thuzard…." The white dragon admitted.

"You saw the Dark Master?"

"I am fortunate to say that I have not seen him," Cryo said, "however Kel'thuzard was not always evil."

"Go on…" Cynder said, now interested in what he had to say.

"Before he became the Dark Master's new servant, Kel'thuzard was my master. He found me as an egg and took me in from the freezing cold. After I hatched he gave me the name Cryo, which he told me was the word for 'cold' in a lost language."

"That seems like it would make sense," Cynder said, becoming more interested into the story, "so what happened?"

Cryo closed his eyes and sighed, remembering the events that took place before meeting Cynder and Spyro.

"Two years passed and soon he found another infant creature. This time it was a young tiger. She was a young one, a year younger then me. Because of her sapphire fur he named her Glacia. I became a foster brother to her, always making sure that she never got into trouble. We were a happy family, me, Kel'thuzard and her. It seemed nothing could break apart our bond."

"But if he was so close to you what happened?" Cynder asked, Cryo looked up at her with a sad look in his eyes.

"It was my 15th birthday six months ago," he said, "that day was the same day that Spyro managed to save you from the Dark Master, that vile villain wanted a new servant and more power so he came to my fath-…Kel'thuzard and used his powers to turn him into his newest general."

Cynder's eyes widened in shock, it seemed the Dark Master was an omnipotent being. Cryo looked at her and nodded his head as he continued his story.

"Then he came towards me and Glacia, telling us that we no longer had to fear the power of the Dark Master as he had made 'good terms' with him. I didn't trust him, Glacia seemed relieved at this little lie but I wasn't fooled. Humans can never lie really well."

"Kel'thuzard was a human?" Cynder asked.  
"A powerful wizard," Cryo told her, "he taught me how to harness my ice breath and the tough winter weather and deadly environment made it easier for me to get my physical strength up. But besides that, the point it was only a day after he told us about him meeting the Dark one when I heard Glacia scream in terror. I woke up at her cry and ran towards her room. That's when I saw what happened to Kel'thuzard."

"What happened?"

"He had become a gorgon, one of the most hideous creatures to ever roam this planet." Cryo said, snarling in anger, "he told me 'Join my Cryo, your sister has and now she is in the service of the Dark Master.' I refused to let myself become a puppet for someone as disgusting as what Kel'thuzard had become. So he sent Glacia at me," Cryo hesitated for a moment, "I had to fight with my sister…I tried to reason with her but she would not listen. I fought with all my strength, but I could not kill her."

"Then…what about your horn?"

"Though I didn't kill Glacia, I was able to knock her out." Cryo admitted, "I turned to Kel'thuzard, angered at the stupid decision he made and attacked him. He merely took one finger and sliced off one of my horns." The white dragon said, lowering his head so Cynder could see the spot where his left horn was. "He told me that I could not defeat him, the day I could kill him is when I would received my severed horn. I had to get stronger, if there was one thing the Dark Master would want now it would be the purple dragon, your Spyro."

"But you were able to defeat Spyro completely, even when he was under Kel'thuzard's control." Cynder said, "How come you couldn't do that before you got here?"

"I went under the training of the ice mages in the deepest part of the mountain, begging them for help and power. Power to save my sister, power to destroy Kel'thuzard, power to stop the Dark Master. I was granted this power with the training they gave me, so I came down here to give my assistance to those who needed it."

"Well your strength is here now." Cynder said.

"It's a pleasure to help you." The white dragon said, lowering his head.

"Thank you for helping us though…I really didn't want to fight him, my heart felt like it was breaking in two."

"It's the feeling of love that you're feeling now." Cryo told her, which made her face turn red.

"L-Love? No way he's a really close friend that's all." Cynder said, smiling as cheesy as anyone could be, Cryo didn't change the look on his face. It was like he could read right through her mind, she sighed in defeat. "All right fine…" she said, "I do love him…I just have a feeling for him that makes me feel that I know he is the dragon for me."

"Love works in weird ways Cynder," Cryo said, "most of the time it's sometimes unexpected. One time you're trying to burn someone then you realize the next thing you feel feelings for him."

"Heh, yeah." Cynder said blushing; she recalled the event to where she was fighting with Spyro for the final time before becoming free from the Dark Master's control. Cryo turned around and began to enter the temple, before he completely entered though he turned to her.

"You should rest now," he said, "tomorrow we begin to look for Spyro."

Cynder nodded her head as she followed Cryo into the temple. This new dragon seemed trustworthy enough for them to trust in. He was powerful, wise, and showed loyalty to the elder dragons. So she knew that he could be a powerful alley for them. She frowned to herself now; Spyro was now under the control of the Dark Master. She could only imagine what it was like when she was following the orders of the vile villain. Cynder looked up to the moon one last time before entering her room.

"Where ever you are, we will find you Spyro…" she said, "I promise we'll bring you back."

Back in the realm of the Dark Master, Spyro snarled as he blasted a horde of minions in anger. He enjoyed watching them fly into the air from the shock waves that his flames created. They were annoying and useless anyway, his wounds from his battle with Cynder and Cryo had healed now but his power needed to be restored. He sensed Kel'thuzard slithering up behind him; the purple dragon didn't even need to turn his head around.

"I know you're there," he said, "You don't have to try to sneak up on me."

"Your senses are getting better dragon," the gorgon said, "the Dark Master wishes to see you."

"If it's about what happened I already talked to him about it." Spyro said, not really in a happy mood, "Besides, how was I to know that there would be a third dragon there?"

"That's what he wants to talk to you about," Kel'thuzard said, "he wants to know more about this white dragon you met."

Spyro raised an eyebrow at the gorgon, but he didn't argue. He opened his wings and flew to the Dark Master's thrown room. When he landed he walked up to the throne where the shadowy force was. He stopped in front of the shadows and looked straight into them, unlike the other forces of the Dark Master he was not all too loyal to him.

"You called Dark Master?" he asked.

"Yes, I have been thinking about what you told me about this third dragon you told me about." The shadow said, his voice full of curiosity about the new for.

"Yeah and what about him?" Spyro asked, feeling a bit impatient.

"Tell me what he looked like young one." The Dark Master said, Spyro looked a bit confused for a bit but began to explain what Cryo looked like.

Spyro told the Dark Master about his encounter with Cryo. The void seemed to listen in very carefully to the words Spyro told him. Even though only a few could see it, his evil grin could be seen. He looked down at Spyro and seemed pleased at the information that his new servant told him.

"Excellent Spyro," he said, "this information is more then enough for what I need to know."

"How does that help you? He's a white dragon with strength that is superior to my physical powers." Spyro asked, a little annoyed at the Dark Master's tone.

"Ah yes, but he can not beat you in your elemental powers though now can he? If that is the trouble then I shall grant you something."

The shadows at the foot of his throne began to move towards Spyro, which began to engulf Spyro. The purple dragon snarled as he tried to fight away from the shadows, but when he felt the power that was being bestowed upon him he stopped struggling. When the shadows were done with their task they returned to their original source. Spyro now was pulsing with more dark energy and power, his light purple skin now dark purple. He looked up at his master, his eyes glowing like red orbs in the night.

"I see now…" Spyro said, his voice sounding more demonic, "This power I feel is incredible."

"Only the best retrieve the power I bestow on them," the Dark Master said, "only you, Kel'thuzard, and the four captains are the ones I trust most now."

Spyro nodded his head as he turned around to leave the room, he didn't want to talk to his new master anymore for now. He came across Kel'thuzard down the hall, the gorgon looked down at him with a new look in his eyes.

"So you received his gift?" he asked.

"Yes I did," Spyro said, "he also wants to speak with you."

The gorgon gave Spyro a weird look, but the dragon's glowing red eyes told him all he needed to know. Kel'thuzard nodded his head and left the purple dragon alone, Spyro snarled a bit at him, and then began walking towards his new room. As he walking he looked at himself in the mirror. His new look, his new power, it felt like he was alive again. It made him feel great, he smiled to himself at his reflection seeming to like his new look. He's eyes however spotted something else, in them he saw Cynder lying on the ground. Bloody and beaten, surrounded by Spyro and some of his own minions as they began to attack one last time, a bright light flashed. The purple dragon shook his head to regain his control over his mind.

"Stupid girl," he said, "even now she still is on my mind."

He turned away from the mirror and began heading to his room again. A part of him however, did miss Cynder. Though he may have not realized it when he was fighting her that he did hurt her not only physically but emotionally. A piece of his heart remembered Kel'thuzard promising those he cared for would not be hurt. However, that piece of his heart would remain dormant. The rest of him was pure evil and it seemed like nothing could change that.

Back in the Dragon Realm, Cynder was having a nightmare. In it she saw four lights high in the dark night sky. Three lights were shining brightly while the fourth one was surrounded by pulsing darkness. In an instant the three lights flew towards the dark one, which in turn flew towards them. The lights collided in a clash that caused an explosion of power. Flames were everywhere, bits and pieces were falling apart, but still the four lights clashed with each other. Cynder woke up sweating; the nightmare was almost like a vision to her. Normally she would tell Spyro about it, she usually would have nightmares ever since she was freed from the Dark Master and he was always there to make her feel better.

"Spyro…when I need you the most you're not there…" she said, tears falling off her face. She looked at the picture she had of him by her bed and pulled it close to her. She smiled sadly at it as tears fell off her face onto it, even if he was under the control of the Dark Master she would not give up on him just yet. How could she just give up that easily anyway? No matter what way she looked at it, she knew that she was in love with him. Surely somewhere in that heart of his now, he must feel something there as well. She gently kissed the picture and placed it back on its original spot and laid down once again, trying to get a good sleep for tomorrow.

The next day the new group that consisted of Cynder, Sparx, and Cryo set out. Cryo taking the place as the group's leader, Cynder didn't bother to argue with him about it. She knew well enough that he could be trusted and with his strength you wouldn't doubt him. Sparx floated above Cryo's head a bit, his mind on many thoughts.

"So tell me again," the dragonfly began, "where are we going?"

"Ignitus told me of some kind of flying creature," Cryo said, "it is said that this beast is a deity made by the gods, part eagle and part lion."

"I heard tales about those kinds of animals," Cynder said, "The Dark Realm's library had a book on creatures in this realm."

"Exactly," Cryo said, "this one however is special. Not only would he be able to help us, but with his power we could begin our invasion on the Dark Realm."

"That's a day I am not looking forward to." Sparx said grimly, "War does nothing but cause pain for everyone."

"However sometimes it's the only way to victory." Cryo said, "I promise you both we will stop the Dark Master and get Spyro back.

The two nodded their heads once at this statement. The trio kept moving, keeping to the ground in case Spyro was in the air looking for them. Cynder was looking at the ground the whole time while Sparx and Cryo kept a watch out for anything that could attack them. The white dragon then stopped dead in his tracks, something was in the air and he could smell it. Cynder looked up as soon as she almost ran into Cryo, the black dragon walked up beside him looking confused.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Something's here…"

Before he could say anything the two saw a powerful fire ball flying towards them. Quickly rolling out of the way the two dragons looked up to see Spyro floating in the air. This time he was different however, besides his new purple skin and glowing red eyes, both could sense the power he now possessed.

"Spyro!" Cynder called to him, "please come back to us! We can fix this whole mess!"

"Hmph." Is all Spyro said as he whistled for his back up, giant flying bats with soldiers of the Dark Realm flew behind him. The purple dragon smiled at the three companions. He obviously liked the odds that were on his side now, this time he would get them back.

"Give it up Cynder," he said, "I'm not going to go back to the weak elders now, if they didn't want me against them they shouldn't have pushed me so far."

"Well if you won't come back for them come back for us! For Sparx! For me!" Cynder yelled, tears forming in her eyes again, "Please come home Spyro!"

He ignored her crying pleading and turned his attention towards Cryo, the white dragon immediately tensed up his muscles. Spyro's eyes narrowed at his sight, because of this dragon he was unable to complete his previous mission from before.

"The Dark Master has given me new found strength. You maybe stronger then me at combat Cryo but you're no match for what I ascend in, Mystical powers." Spyro said, "prepare for payback you bastard!"

Spyro charged down towards the two dragons, the group of bat riders following close behind him. Cynder looked back at Cryo who was right behind her. She looked back up at Spyro and knew that she would face him alone this time.

"Cryo, let me handle Spyro." She said

"No Cynder, I'm the strongest of the three of us here." Cryo said.

"Please…just let me do this." Cynder said, he voice trailing off. Cryo looked at her for a bit, confused to why she would want to fight him herself. He did see the wishful thinking in her mind though, he nodded his head and began to attack the bat riders while Cynder flew towards Spyro, her front claws open and ready for combat while her eyes were now full of tears that fell down towards the earth below them…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Cynder and Spyro collided in the air; the two dragons tumbled towards the ground while Cryo battled with the bat riders in the air. Spyro growled as he fell with Cynder, both pushing each other with their front legs. The black dragon was able to throw Spyro off her into the forest quickly, this enabled her to fly again more effectively. She flew towards the forest where she had thrown Spyro. The purple dragon was now standing on the ground; he had no scratches from his fall and was looking angry. He stared up at Cynder who was flying towards him. He snarled and spat out a black flame towards her; Cynder was able to dodge the flame and fired back her own blue flame at him. Spyro opened his wings and flapped them once to dash backwards which allowed him to avoid the attack.

Cynder dove straight toward him again, this time gaining speed from her decent. She closed in on Spyro and slammed into him with a powerful charge attack. Spyro snarled at this and managed to get both Cynder and himself rolling in a circle down a hill. Both dragons scratching and biting at each other, this time Cynder was being more offensive then she was before then she was from the last battle. The two dragons kept rolling down the hill until Spyro had enough of it. He was able to flip her over and slammed her into the ground with his powerful earthquake abilities.

Cynder gasped for air from the impact, the crushing attack was brutal on anyone that it would hit. Then again she wasn't surprised about it; Spyro always had tricks up his sleeves whenever she fought him. Even when she was under the Dark Master's control he was a powerful opponent. Shaking off whatever pain she felt Cynder opened her mouth and blasted Spyro with her flame. The purple dragon was caught off guard by the attack and was sent flying into a large rock, crashing into it. Cynder got up and shook off the pain from her wounds and began walking towards Spyro.

"Hmph, so you're actually fighting this time." Spyro said, "About time."

"I'm not holding back this time," Cynder said, "even if I have to break your legs I will bring you back."

"Then by all means," Spyro said, a dark aura pulsing around him, "TRY IT!"

With a boost of speed he blasted away from the rock towards Cynder. The black dragon quickly dodged the attack and slammed her head on his left rib cage. Spyro snarled at this and slammed his tail onto her face. The two dragons continued their clash, each one returning another blow to the other. Both of them flew into the air, Spyro flying ahead of Cynder flew until he was thirty feet above her. The purple dragon roared as he spat out a black flame towards her, Cynder didn't let this scare her though. She roared herself as she spat out a blue flame towards the one that Spyro had shot at her. The two flames collided in the air, both pushing the other back with equal force. Spyro and Cynder's eyes narrowed, they kept breathing more power into their flames until it seemed like both reached the breaking point.

"_If this goes on then neither one of us will win this fight_," Cynder thought, "_Come on flame…don't give in on me yet_."

The two flames soon were at a breaking point to exploding. However Spyro smirked to himself as he added more power to his flame. The black flame soon out grew Cynder's and began to push it back towards her. Cynder's eyes widened at the site as she tried to hold the flame, but her flame wasn't strong enough to hold it back. Spyro's flame soon conquered Cynder's and enveloped her. The black dragon yelled in pain as the flame pushed her towards the ground, resulting in a loud crash. Spyro stopped his attack and flew down to where she had fallen to slowly. He lightly landed and walked up to the hole Cynder was in, looking down at the black dragon with a bit of disgust.

"You once caused me a lot of trouble when we first me," he said, "You've become a weakling Cynder. Unlike you I have no weakness."

"Ugh…what do you know," Cynder began as she forced herself up, "about weakness?"

Spyro didn't answer her; he just stared at his former friend as she struggled to get up. He snorted as she finally got up turning towards Spyro she bit her lip to keep the pain she was feeling down. The black dragon ran towards him with a charge attack, Spyro once again flapped his wings to dash out of her way. Cynder quickly slid to turn around and charge at Spyro again. The purple dragon's eyes narrowed as he took his tail and slammed it on her head. Cynder grunted at the pain but forced her legs to keep up the charge. Her head slammed into Spyro's chest and pushed him back into a tree which took the purple dragon by surprise. Cynder began her counter attack as she slashed at Spyro with her claws. Each slash cutting his skin deeper and deeper, she grunted as she slashed at him. Tears filled her eyes at the thought of hurting the dragon she loved, but she had no choice but to do so.

Spyro endured the pain from Cynder's attacks, each hit was stronger but he did his best not to yell out in pain. He wasn't going to do that, not after the power he had just received. He opened his eyes and slammed his head on Cynder's unprotected under belly. The black dragon gasped for air as the force of the head butt sent her flying from him. This was Spyro's chance to strike back; he spat out a blast of ice at Cynder and froze all four of her feet to the ground. The black dragon looked down at her feet and tried to pull them out. It did no good she was stuck to the place where she was frozen too. She looked up at Spyro, his horns glowing with electricity.

"Payback time." Is all he said as he spat out lighting at Cynder's feet. The lighting began to shoot from the ice to her body. Cynder yelled in pain from the powerful attack, the electricity shocking every bone in her body. Spyro didn't stop his assault and kept adding more power to the lighting. He watched as Cynder screamed in pain, the force of the lighting adding more damage to her. Something in the back of his mind was yelling stop, but he ignored it. He then saw Cynder's eyes; they were wet with tears from the pain of the attack and lost of her friend. That's when a part of his old self returned; his eyes shrunk at the sight of what he had done and stopped the lighting.

Cynder's legs buckled from the pain, she had huge gashes from the painful lighting attack and the fact her feet were frozen to the ground didn't help. She did however look at Spyro; she could see that a part of him was fighting the Dark Master. She didn't know what part but she could see it in his eyes as the purple dragon stepped back a bit.

"C-Cynder…I…I…" Spyro said; his voice a bit shaky.

"Spyro don't worry about me!" She yelled, "Fight off the control the Dark Master has on you! FIGHT IT!"

Before he could speak however, something entered his mind. It felt as if his mind was on fire at what the pain he was feeling. Spyro yelled in pain as he shook his head, trying to fight off the surging pain he was feeling. He knew what it was; it was the Dark Master invading his mind.

"_Do not stop Spyro_," the voice told him, "_Keep hurting her or I will make sure that you suffer more pain than what she is going through._"

Spyro's yells of pain died down as he hung his head. Cynder didn't take her eyes off Spyro for a minute, and then slowly the purple dragon raised his head. The glowing red eyes had retaken their place from Spyro's friendly eyes. Cynder's heart sunk into her chest, another chance of freeing Spyro was lost. The purple dragon walked up to her with anger in his eyes, he glared at her with hate.

"You won't get any mercy from me ever again." He said, his dark aura pulsing, "I'll make sure you know what pain is!"

With that he bit down on Cynder's neck hard, his teeth digging deeper into her skin. Cynder was unable to shake him off and was forced to stand in pain as Spyro kept pushing his teeth down on her neck. Blood began to trickle off the black dragon's neck, Cynder's eyes watered at both the pain and how she could not help Spyro fight the darkness in his heart. Finally he let go of her neck and blasted her feet with a flame that melted the ice. Cynder tumbled to the ground, covered in blood, tears, and sweat from the fight. Spyro looked down at the sight of the fallen Cynder, his teeth still damp with her blood.

"You're absolutely pathetic." He said, turning away from her, "And here I thought you were so much stronger."

Spyro began to walk away from her, not even looking back once. Cynder closed her eyes; she had failed to save him again. The thought of him being under the Dark Master's control forever caused her heart to ache with pain. She cried silently as her tears damped her face. Everything was lost now; if she couldn't bring him back she had no purpose to go on now. He was everything to her, the morning sun and the one person she could always turn to when she was either in pain or sorrow. He was always there for her but now she couldn't be there for him. The thought made her mind cry in sadness, the only true love she felt for someone was now under the Dark Master's control and she was letting him walk away.

If only she had been stronger, if only she had the strength to fight him back. She thought about the power she once had when they fought before. If she had that power again she could have gone head to head with him. But now that power was gone, if there was ever a moment that she wished for it to come back it was now. She opened her eyes, tears still falling off her face. Spyro was everything to her now and she wanted to save him and bring him home. How could she now though? Her power wasn't strong enough to fight him and the power she had before was gone.

"_If only…if only I had more power! I can't lose him! __**I WON'T LOSE HIM! I HAVE TO GET HIM BACK! I HAVE TO!**_" her mind screamed, her desire seemed to reach her legs. She slowly forced her self up as her head hung over the ground, her wounds from the fight seemed to begin healing faster then usual. Something inside her was responding to her desire, her eyes glowed blue for a bit as she felt stronger. The holes in her wings also were recovering as quickly as her wounds. Then she felt something she had not felt in a while, power.

"_This…this is…_" she thought, looking down that the reflection of her mixed blood and tears made. _"This is my old strength…"_

It was true; the power she had as the Dark Master's general seemed to return to her. It was responding to her desire to save Spyro and it soon became the only thing on her mind. Her eyes narrowed as she let out a massive roar from the old power that coursed through her. Spyro stopped walking as he hear the roar, he quickly turned his head to see Cynder standing, tears flying off her face into the air while her dark aura pulsed. His eyes widened in shock at the sight, how was it possible that she was still standing, let alone alive?

"This impossible," he said, "you can't have this power now, I wiped it out of you completely!"

Cynder didn't understand how her old strength was still in her as well, but that didn't matter to her. Her mind was just set on saving Spyro, nothing else was important. Her wings opened as she positioned herself to get ready to resume her fight with Spyro.

"Spyro! I won't let the Dark Master have you!" she said strongly, the ground beneath her began to collapse from the power she was generating, "I'll stop you! Even if I have to break your legs and wings and drag you home myself!!!"

Cynder flew right at Spyro and slammed into him before the purple dragon could even make a move. Cynder was now on the offensive against Spyro, she slashed, bit, and head butted him more times then she did from before. Spyro could barely dodge any of the attacks Cynder was throwing at him; it was unlike before where she would hold back. This time she was going all out at him nonstop. Cynder kept attacking Spyro, not resting for one bit. Even though she was landing more hits than before her eyes still were full of tears. Finally she slammed her tail on Spyro's side hard, which sent him flying into the air.

Spyro quickly recovered from his spin and balanced himself. He looked down to see Cynder flying straight at him again. This time he wasn't going to get pushed around, he snarled and spat out flame after flame at the black dragon; however Cynder dodged each on and fired her own flames back at him. Spyro managed to avoid the flames and began to shoot lighting at her, the attack missed but barely. The two dragons flew around spitting attack after attack at each other until finally both collided again. This time they began wrestling in the air. Both didn't notice it but they began to fall towards the ground as they wrestled, Spyro was on top first and began to slash Cynder fast, however Cynder was using her tail to slam him on his sides. Both dragons soon crashed on the ground, which caused dust to shoot up.

Cynder groaned as she got up from her fall. The dust was everywhere so it made it somewhat difficult to see. She could hear Spyro's breathing though and he was close, very close. Then she jumped back, avoiding a blast of ice from the purple dragon. Cynder didn't go off the attack, she countered by shooting out her own flame towards Spyro which collided with his own flame. This time there was no contest, both flames exploded on contact. This caused the ground to split apart, cracks all over them until both flew into the air.

The two dragons were tired, bruised, and battered. Spyro snarled at the fact that Cynder was more powerful now. How she regained her powers again was a mystery to him, but he knew that it meant trouble. Cynder on the other hand wasn't pondering anything; all her mind was set on was to recover Spyro at any coast. She noticed Cryo's ice blast from his position, the bat riders were low on numbers while he hardly had any scratches on him at all. She turned her attention to Spyro again, this time the purple dragon's eyes glowed with anger.

"I don't know how you did it, but somehow the Master's powers are still in you." He said.

"You're not getting away Spyro," Cynder said softly, "I can't lose you."

"Get it through your head," Spyro said angrily, "I don't CARE!"

He flew straight at her this time, his dark aura pulsing again. Cynder's eyes narrowed as she flew at him as well. Both auras soon collided and resulted a large explosion of power. Cynder was sent flying towards Cryo who caught her from the nasty fall. Spyro however was still in the air; he glared down at Cryo and Cynder before landing in front of them. Obviously angry about how she was able to fight him back so hard after he had just threw her around. He noticed the dark aura around Cynder growing down; she was half conscious and could barely make anything out. He snorted at them before turning around.

"The next time we meet she won't be so lucky." He told the white dragon.

"Spyro, before you go let me ask you something." Cryo said.

"What is it?"

"Do you really hate her or are you just too sucked up in your rage and hate for everything that you don't see your feelings her anymore?" Cryo asked.

Spyro was silent for a while, the question had hit him harder then any of Cynder's attacks. His heart began to beat faster and the part of him who was still good began to show again. He turned his head towards Cryo, his red eyes now purple a bit before they flickered to red.

"Tell her…" he said slowly, making sure the evil that had taken him did not interrupt him, "I'm sorry."

With that his purple eyes changed to red again. Spyro shook his head and walked off; any of the surviving bat riders soon followed him. A portal to the dark realm opened and soon Spyro and his minions walked through it. Cynder opened her eyes weakly as tears fell off her face. Now there was even more questions to ask, was the good in Spyro fighting to get out? How did her old power return to her? Could Spyro even be saved now? Everything just seemed to get more and more complicated to answer for both her and Cryo. She silently cried as she looked down at the ground, the nightmare was still going on and it seemed it wouldn't end any time soon.

"We better get moving," Cryo said, "the next time we fight him he'll stop at nothing to see you dead."

"…I know Cryo…" Cynder said, "I know…"

The two dragons began to move again, Sparx who had been hiding from the battle finally came out. He had gathered some gems to help them restore their strength, this helped a great deal for both more specifically Cynder. The three began to move on their quest to find this deity Ignitus spoke off. Hoping to find answers for their questions, they needed them more then ever now.

Back in the Dark Realm however, Spyro sat in his room alone. He was staring blankly at the sky that was above. Something was going on, not just with Cynder but in him as well. He looked down at the floor, agitated about the battle that had taken place.

"I try to hold this, under control...they can't help me…cause no one knows…" he told himself, thoughts of Cynder in his mind once again. Even though he may have not realized it, his heart ached at the pain he had just caused her. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, hoping that someday he would understand why his heart ached.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: This chapter is a song fic with lyrics from 3 Doors Down "Changes" lyrics will be in _blah_.

Chapter 6

Spyro didn't sleep that night. Too many things were plaguing the young dragon's mind, even now as he was under the Dark Master's control he was still surrounded by questions. Even though Kel'thuzard told him that all his fears and troubles would be put to rest when he became evil. He looked around; the walls that surrounded him now confused and scared him. It was like he didn't even know where he was anymore and no one knew how he felt at all.

_I'm not supposed to be scared of anything, but I don't know where I am  
I wish that I could move but I'm exhausted and nobody understands (how I feel)_

He tried to close his eyes to sleep, however something wasn't allowing him to sleep. Thoughts of today's battle still clouded his mind, up to the event where he fought Cynder was the biggest subject on his mind. Breathing soon became almost impossible to do. It was if something had taken the air out of his lungs. He looked around; there was no one to talk to at all. Nothing like at the Dragon Realm where he could always find a friend to talk to, mainly Sparx and Cynder but now it left him in the numb empty room.

_I'm trying hard to breathe now but there's no air in my lungs  
There's no one here to talk to and the pain inside is making me numb_

Thoughts of returning to his old home entered his mind. He pushed it back with all his might, trying to control the desire to leave. A part of him was still good and whether or not that the Dark Master could sense this was the question. He had no friends in the Dark Realm, so no one could help him with anything he felt. No one could ever know about his thoughts, not even Kel'thuzard.

_I try to hold this_

_Under control  
They can't help me 'Cause no one knows_

Spyro knew that he was changing. Not just his physical appearance but the good that was in him was trying to force its way out again. It was something that made him angry and frustrated every day to deal with. He didn't know what it was but somehow even as he was still a servant to the Dark Master he felt as if he was suffocating and no one was there to help him. He knew that he was going through a change; even his good side could sense it as well. He didn't like it; he wanted one side out of him for good. But what part was it? Not even he had the answer to that question, it seemed no one did.

_Now I'm going through changes, changes  
God, I feel so frustrated lately  
When I get suffocated, save me  
Now I'm going through changes, changes_

He heard a knock on the door; he turned his head and frowned. He didn't feel like being disturbed after a long day nor was he in the mood to be angry. He just turned away from the door as it opened up. Kel'thuzard entered the room slowly looking around for Spyro. The purple dragon just laid on the bed quietly, not even caring to acknowledge the gorgon's entrance.

"Something wrong dear dragon?" the gorgon asked.

"Nothing…everything is fine." Spyro lied.

"I sense otherwise that you aren't fine." Kel'thuzard said, slithering up to his bed before stopping. "You forget that for someone like you Spyro your emotions can be read very easily."

Spyro flinched at that remark. He knew very well how it felt to have your feelings read constantly. Every comment that the gorgon gave him felt as if it just sliced him open on an already effected wound over and over again. The purple dragon didn't look at Kel'thuzard, knowing that he could not look into the glowing eyes of hate.

_I'm feeling weak and weary walking through this world alone  
Everything you say, every word of it, cuts me to the bone _

The gorgon smiled at Spyro's flinching, it was fun to see the dragon they once fought as their biggest threat do nothing back. The purple dragon snorted to himself as he kept his eyes away from his 'ally'. He felt like saying something smart to through the gorgon off his guard, but if he said the wrong thing he could have easily been killed on the spot. He kept his mouth shut as the gorgon lowered his head down to meet his eyes.

"Know this Spyro," he said, "if you are still feeling love for them let it go. They did nothing but put the weight of the world on your shoulders anyway."

_I've got something to say, but now I've got no where to turn  
It feels like I've been buried underneath all the weight of the world_

_I try to hold this _

_Under control  
They can't help me 'Cause no one knows_

"The Dark Master heard about what happened," the gorgon said, "the traitor seems to have some of her old power left within her."

"Which doesn't make sense Kel'thuzard," Spyro said, "I defeated her and drove her power out of her body, how in the world can it come back just like that?"

"The Dark Master's powers aren't always removed from just one single normal force forever. Only a deity or a god can do that, you left about 20 of the old strength she had back in her glory days." Kel'thuzard said explained.

"Strange, very strange," The purple dragon said as he got up, "I'm going out. I need a breath of fresh air."

"Suit yourself; just be sure to come back soon."

Spyro ignored the comment from Kel'thuzard and left the room. So many things were confusing now. He thought the dark side of his heart had all the answers, that no one would confuse him ever again about life again. But now after seeing the devotion of Cynder he began to wonder himself if he was wrong. What if he chose the wrong path to follow? What if he could never go back? The thoughts did not make him happy and it made him angry and frustrated. He snarled to himself as he ran down the hall in anger, obviously his anger blinded him and made his body shake with terror.

"Dammit…DAMMIT…DAMMIT…DAMMIT…**DAMMIT!**" he yelled as he crashed into soldiers from his charge. Not caring if he sent them flying away from him, he didn't stop running trying to drive the thought of his mind.

_I'm blind and shaking  
Bound and breaking  
I hope I make it through all these changes_

Spyro came to a stop at the lake the Dark Realm had. He looked at his reflection in the water, thought it was just dark water he could make his own reflection out pretty well. He was so confused about his world now; everything seemed to crumble at every turn. Nothing seemed right and every path he took just turned out to be the wrong one no matter what. He snarled at himself in anger and blasted the lake with a blast of ice, followed by a powerful flame. He kept doing this process until he got tired from using so much of his energy on the lake. He could feel his heart beginning to beat again for the longest time. Something had made him remember his life before joining sides, but he was still surrounded by evil thoughts but his dark side could feel the world crumbling apart.

_Now I'm going through changes, changes  
God I feel so frustrated lately  
When I get suffocated save me  
Now I'm falling apart now I feel it_

He looked at his reflection one last time before turning away. Why was his past coming back to him now? Why was it that the good that he swore had died in his heart coming back? Nothing made sense anymore, not even Kel'thuzard could describe it very well. He sat down and stared up at the moonless sky, endless night seemed to reign to no end. He wondered if it was always like this, darkness engulfing the sky completely until there was nothing. What would happen if that happened to the Dragon Realm? How would his old friends survive? He shook his head, he was suffocating his mind with all these useless questions and he hated it completely. These changes to him were nothing but annoying facts of life changing.

_But I'm going through changes, changes  
God I feel so frustrated lately  
And I get suffocated I hate this  
But I'm going through changes, changes_

Spyro snorted to himself, changes or not he wasn't going to let his good side make his decisions for him anymore. He was a servant of the Dar k Master no matter what happened. He looked up and saw a bat rider descend from the air to meet him, Spyro got up on his legs and eyed the bat rider. The rider, being smart, got off his bat and kneeled before Spyro.

"The Dark Master requests your presence at the throne room," he said, "he says you have a new partner to team up with."

"Partner? I work alone." Spyro told the rider.

"The master insists, or else you'll feel his wrath lord Spyro."

The purple dragon rolled his eyes and opened his wings to fly off. What the Dark Master had in store for him now, he had no clue. He did wonder what 'partner' his lord was planning on him to team up with. It stayed with him on his mind until he reached the castle, the sooner the better is what he told himself. Spyro began walking down the hall, thoughts of Cynder still on his mind…


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Spyro soon came to the throne room door. He sighed as he forced any thoughts of Cynder out his mind completely. This was no time to show any signs of weakness in front of his master. He pushed the doors opened and walked towards the throne. The Dark Master's shadowy form was floating there as usual, this time with his eyes closed. Kel'thuzard stood by his master's right; his eyes met Spyro's almost instantly. The young dragon ignored the gorgon and turned to his master.

"You called me sir?" he asked.

"Yes, I have something to ask of you." The shadowy being replied.

"What is that?"

"When you fought Cynder, did you see any remnants of my influence in her?"

Spyro stood still in shock, how did he know that Cynder had just tapped into the power she had before again? He looked up at the shadow's eyes, unable to look away from them.

"H-How did you know about that?" he asked.

"My power still flows through each of my generals," The Dark Master mused, "even those generals who have turned their backs on me. Cynder's power has become as much a part of her as the blood coursing through her veins. While my influence is no longer there, in times when her heart burns blackest, it will awaken once more."

"_That explains why she seemed so focused on trying to bring me back._" Spyro thought to himself, trying to avoid the Dark Master's eyes.

"Due to this...development, I believe you need assistance," The Dark Master muttered, an unpleasant edge to his voice, "Get the girl."

The gorgon nodded his head and looked to his right, pulling a chain that he had in his hands. Spyro noticed something or someone behind Kel'thuzard. He frowned and pulled the chain again. This time whatever it was walked forward, Spyro was able to get a good look this time. It was a young tiger; the dragon's eyes seemed surprised to see a rare species.

"Glacia," Kel'thuzard said, "my prized possession."

Then name already told Spyro that the tiger was female. She had a sapphire coat that seemed to shimmer even in the dark light that filled the room. Her dark blue eyes seemed to be sunken with sadness, as if she had seen a horrible tragedy with them before. The chain that Kel'thuzard held was attached to a metal collar around her neck, so it would make it easy for the gorgon to control her.

"A tiger as my partner?" Spyro asked, he turned his attention to the Dark Master, "you can't be serious."

"I am," the shadow said, "with the experience Cynder has with her powers and the white dragon's physical strength exceeding your own, you will need all the support you need now."

"But…"

"That is final," the shadow snapped, "do not argue with my will." The Dark Master's eyes glowed with a hint of danger in them as his voiced seemed to boom across the room, Spyro did not argue with him anymore. He knew well when he had lost an argument, he nodded his head once. Kel'thuzard looked down at Glacia, who did not look back up at him.

"You shall work with him and do whatever he says," he said coolly, "or I shall break your legs."

"…Yes Master." Glacia said quietly.

Kel'thuzard touched a spot on the chain, which seemed to retract into the collar around her neck. The tiger quietly walked up to Spyro's side, barely making eye contact with him. The purple dragon noticed the sadness in her eyes; he knew that feeling all too well. Before leaving the room with her he bowed before Kel'thuzard and the Dark Master, turned, and walked out of the room. Glacia followed closely behind, trying to avoid the gorgon's deathly scare.

The forced duo walked in silence for a long time. Glacia looked up a couple of times at him; every now and then she would look at him before he turned to look at her. She did it more then once and it was getting really old for him. Finally he got too angry and glared at her in a threatening way. The tiger pulled back a bit from him when he glared at her. She may have been a tiger, but she was very timid.

"Why do you keep staring at me like that?" he growled.

"I…I…" the tiger stammered, obviously scared at his temper.

"Answer me you little moron!" he roared at her, the young girl laid completely on her belly, showing that she knew who was in charge. It was a long time before either of them spoke, until finally the tiger opened her mouth.

"You…you look like someone I know…that's all." Glacia finally admitted.

"I remind you of someone?" Spyro mimicked her, he snarled baring his teeth. "Don't ever say stupid shit like that ever again, understood?"

"Y-yes sir…I know my place." Glacia said, not arguing back like the rest would.

That was one thing that surprised Spyro, Glacia seemed completely obedient to whoever was in charge. Something he hadn't seen much around here, minus the loyalty that everyone showed the Dark Master. He began walking again; Glacia quietly got up from lying down and followed him. The sadness in her eyes was easy to see, though what had happened to her before was a mystery to Spyro. Why was a tiger working for a gorgon? A creature that was considered beautiful and elegant working for a hideous monster like him? The dragon was confused, what past did the two have?

"Um…sir?" the tiger said with caution, Spyro rolled his eyes as he didn't turn his head to her.

"What is it?" he asked, a little annoyed.

"Did you…encounter someone with one horn?" She asked.

Spyro turned his head this time, his eyes seemed a little threatening, but he didn't attack her. He sighed as he pulled his head away from her view.

"Yes I did…do not bring up the topic." He ordered.

"Y-Yes sir." Glacia said; obeying the order he gave.

The pair continued down the hall to the entrance to the Dragon Realm. A couple of the soldiers and Bat Riders where there, however what caught the young dragon's eye was the brute force of the Dark Army. There were about five ogres were as tall as the giant stones lining the portal to the dragon realm. Their shoulders were broad and powerful looking. However their heads were able the size of a medium sized rock, so that indicated to Spyro that the creatures were dumb. They also were hunched over so their broad shoulders looked like a bunch of boulders while their backs were covered in warts. Glacia scrunched her nose; obviously she did not like the sight of them. Spyro turned to his new partner, somewhat amused that she hated the monsters.

"What are these brutes?" he asked.

"They're called Abominations," the tiger replied, "they were brought to the Dark Master for power since they were originally goblins," The Abominations grunted as they seemed to play a game of chance with dried up and broken bones, "now they've become disgusting creatures."

"Hmph," Spyro snorted, "they look pretty stupid to me."

The group of Abominations heard Spyro and turned their heads towards him. The young dragon just glared at the ugly monsters with no fear in his eyes. The first giant walked over to him with his hand raised in the air, as if he was to slam his fist down on him. Spyro didn't move, Glacia moved back a few steps as the ugly ogre slammed his fist down at Spyro. The dragon just stepped dodge the hand and grunt in annoyance at the stupidity of the clumsy monster. He opened his mouth and a dark flame shot out, completely engulfing the arm.

The ogre yelled in pain as he held is arm in the air. Both scared at the sight of his arm on fire and feeling such pain it had never felt. Spyro's eyes glinted as he blasted the arm with an ice breath, freezing the arm completely. The Abomination looked confused at first at his frozen arm, but then the dragon jumped up and slammed his tail on the arm hard. The ice cracked and the frozen arm was shattered completely, causing icicles to shoot out everywhere. Spyro landed in front of the Abomination, a look of disgust on his face.

"You stupid creature, you should know better then to mess with someone who is a higher rank then you." He said, puffing out smoke from his nose, "Do not challenge me again do you understand me?"

The ogre looked up in fear at the small dragon, his eyes full of terror. But he knew his place well now, the small dragon gave the orders and no matter what they were his group was to obey him. He looked at Glacia, who did nothing but stare back at him. The stupid monster went to attack her as well, but a blast aimed at his feet by Spyro made him stop. The Abomination looked at the small dragon in confusion, why did he attack him again?

"She is my unit," he told the giant, "you and your ugly kin are not to harm her do you understand?"

The giant did not argue with him, turning his back from Glacia he rejoined his group. All of them looked down at his arm, completely shattered from Spyro's attack. The all gulped at the thought of what would happen if they ever made him mad enough. The group backed away from Spyro as he walked by them, the timid Glacia following close behind him.

"The only ones they respect are the ones who can cause them harm," she said quietly, "you, Kel'thuzard, their Captain, and the Dark Master."

"As far as I'm concerned they're just as useless as the rest of the army." Spyro said as they walked towards the portal. "We're heading out, be on your guard and follow only me."

"Y-Yes sir."

The duo entered the portal, warping them to once again the dragon realm. They were miles away from the elder temple or the ones who were looking for him. Spyro looked at Glacia who stood quietly beside him before moving on, the two looking for the next assignment.

Miles away Cynder, Sparx, and Cryo were traveling their long hard road to find the deity Ignitus spoke of. Cryo and Sparx were surprised at Cynder's tale about her powers returning, it was something any of them did not expect to return. Cryo looked at Cynder, who kept to herself for a good five hours. Then tension between the three was extremely delicate, if anyone said anything about Spyro Cynder would break into tears. Sparx however felt that the silence was pointless; he turned to the black dragon who kept looking at the ground while she walked.

"Listen Cynder," he said, "you still can't be down about this can you? I mean we can work this problem out, it always works out!"

Cynder just kept silent, her mind on too many things to listen to Sparx who just kept rambling at her about the stuff she already knew. The main thing on her mind was her dark powers, they had returned and she could feel them coursing through her veins. It felt as if the Dark Master was still beside her, although she could no longer hear his voice the power he had bestowed upon her gave her a numb feeling. Sparx flew up into her face now, this time she saw him clearly could see him now.

"Earth to Cynder! Hellooo? Anyone home?" he said.

"W-What?" Cynder asked, raising her head up. Cryo was looking at her as well; Sparx gave out a sigh of relief.

"Finally!" he said, "I've been trying to get you to respond forever!"

"Sorry Sparx," she said, "I've been thinking a lot lately that's all."

"About Spyro again?" Cryo asked, sitting down this time.

"That and what happened when I fought him…" Cynder said, her voice trailing off, "I don't understand it…he drove the power out of me but I could feel it rise up again."

"Well maybe you can't always erase evil," Cryo said, which got him a look from Sparx, "think of it this way sure you can take away the evil in a power source, but the power is still there. It's like a river filled with garbage, you can take the garbage out of it but the river still flows. Just like Cynder's old powers do now."

"But the weird thing is the only time I felt the power is when I was yelling at myself to get up and save Spyro," Cynder explained, "I don't get how come I can use it now."

"That doesn't make sense at all," Sparx admitted, "how can she even know that it's there if she can't use it or call upon it?"

"Her power must respond to her desire or will," Cryo mused, "apparently fragments of it still remain but there is so little that it hides away, trying to rebuild itself into a stronger force."

"I think I get it now," Sparx said, "the more encouraged she gets or the more her desire grows…"

"Her old power shall return." Cryo said, "However I doubt that it'll always be helpful."

"Cryo's right," Cynder said, "it's been too long since I used my old powers for anything so I can't control it as well as I could before. It seemed only when I have a huge desire that it focuses on only that."

"So it's like a double-edged sword," Sparx mused, frowning to the idea, "that sucks then what if we needed it to get us out of a jam?"

"Sparx we shouldn't worry about that now," Cryo said, "what matters now is that we find shelter for the night."

"Oh yeah like we're gonna find some place to sleep here." Sparx said sarcastically.

"Sparx don't start now," Cynder groaned, "you know that attitude gets old."

"Oh hush up." Sparx said, yawning in the process.

The trio kept moving on as the night got darker and darker, which made them all tense. At night anything could happen and with the Dark Master's forces growing anything could come out. The silent night kept on as the trio moved, each step becoming harder to take as their eyes slowly got sleepier. Cynder's mind still on the thought of her old powers in her again. No matter how many times she tried to shake the thought of the Dark Master's influence on her she couldn't get away. She looked up as something caught her attention; it seemed like some kind of party going on in a nearby village. She ran ahead of the other two, who followed her as soon as she began to run.

The black dragon skidded to a halt as she reached a cliff. Below her in a small valley was a village surrounded by trees and a river. For some reason it looked like they were celebrating a part of some sort. Cryo and Sparx caught up to her and noticed that she had found something. The trio smiled to each other, perhaps this was a place for them to finally get some rest from their long and hard journey. What they didn't know was that in the shadows, a guardian of the village was watching them, preparing to strike at any moment…


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The figure in the bushes was silent as he stared at the trio of unwelcome visitors. His claws dug into the soft soil of the earth, the entry to his village was not allowed without his approval. He made sure no one would ever enter his home; he had kept it secret and safe for many years. These strangers smelt evil, he could taste it so well that he began to salivate. The trio looked down with grateful faces at the valley, all three of them looked like they were about to attack. He could hear them talking, but he was too far away to understand what they were saying at all. He crept closer to the ground, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Cynder smiled at the small village in the valley. She was glad that for once evil did not touch an innocent place like this. There were few of what this village is in the world now, but even now the Dark Master's forces would be on the move to find and destroy villages like this one. They were popular choices for minions who wanted to cause destruction. Cryo looked at his companion, a small smile on his face this time.

"You seem happy Cynder." He said.

"I am," she replied, "these types of villages are special. Ignitus told me about how they represent freedom and how the villagers lead carefree lives. Only a few of these exist in the world now sadly though."

"Wait, theses used to be around a lot more?" Sparx asked, curious to the story.

"Yeah they were," Cynder explained, "before war, hate, and all things that would cause trouble came to the beings of the world everyone had carefree lives and worshipped the gods and angels more then anything else."

"It's a shame really," Cryo said, "to think that all evil was created when an event changed the world…"

"What? What event?" Sparx asked.

Before Cryo could answer there was a snap from behind him. His head perked up quickly as he turned his whole body around, snarling at a bush that was a few feet away from them. Cynder turned as well; a confused look was on her face to why Cryo was snarling at a bush. The black dragon looked at him, wondering what was going through his mind.

"What is it Cryo" she asked

"We're being watched…" He told her, his voice close to a low growl now. The bush moved again, this time it caught Sparx's and Cynder's eyes. Both of them readied themselves for what ever could come out of the bush. Cryo's eyes moved to another bush, he snarled as he spat out a blast of ice at it. The bush quickly was protected by a bolt of lighting that seemed to emerge from it. The two attacks clashed and caused a small explosion.

"What the hell was that?!" Sparx yelled, coughing up dust that went into his mouth.

"Come out of there," Cryo growled, "I know that smell anywhere."

"Hmph, typical dragons." The bush said, the creature that was hiding in there finally revealed himself as he walked out. It was a young wolf at the age of fourteen at the most, he had silver fur that seemed to glimmer and his green eyes glowed with power. His fur was creating static electricity as it seemed to rise up on his back. His claws dug into the soft soil without any problem. The trio's eyes narrowed, a wolf was a powerful being and no one would want to mess with one. Cryo however, did not seem to like this wolf at all.

"I would suggest you three leave this place at once," the wolf said, lowering his head to the ground, "or you'll be burnt into crisp bodies."

"Hey buddy we don't want any trouble!" Sparx said, flying up in the wolf's face, "we just want sleep and shelter that's all!"

"Hmph, and why should I believe you three?" The wolf said, snarling at Sparx, "All of you have the stench of evil on you; I do not allow such filth into my home."

"Us Evil?" Sparx asked, "you got it wrong there wolf boy, we aren't evil for one thing we just want to get some rest and…"

Sparx was cut off by a bolt of lighting from the wolf's fur coat. The dragonfly got out of the attack's way, but the lighting did almost singe his thorax. Sparx's face was full of relief that he was able to dodge the attack; he looked down at the wolf who glared at the two dragons in front of him.

"Dragons always bring evil with them no matter where they go," he told them, his eyes full of hate, "even if they have 'good' intentions."

"Listen," Cynder began, "we aren't here to fight with you after what we had to go through and if we don't get our strength back the Dark Master's forces could attack us at anytime!"

"LIAR!" the wolf yelled, with that his fur shot out more lighting at the two dragons. Cryo and Cynder flapped their wings to get out of the lighting's way, narrowly avoiding the hit. Cryo snarled at the young wolf and spat out a breath of ice at him, the blast seemed to hit the wolf but the two dragons soon saw that it was just an after image of the wolf. Cynder looked up at a higher cliff above them and noticed that the wolf was now there. She roared and spat out a blue flame towards the creature. The wolf in turn launched his own attack back towards the flame.

The two attacks collided and began a power contest; no side was able to conquer the other's attack so the two attacks exploded. Cynder had to close her eyes to avoid getting dust into them however she heard another lighting attack flying at her from behind. Before it could reach her however, Cryo put up a shield around the two to deflect the attack away. Both of the dragons narrowed their eyes, this wolf was fast and they could barely keep up with him.

"Not good," Cynder said, "he's fast and as soon as we let him out of our sight he comes back again."

"He's probably just seeing what we can do," Cryo said, snarling in frustration, "wolves are like that sadly. They think things out and discover when to strike and how hard to do so."

"_If we had him on our side it would a lot easier when we're in fights with the Dark master…"_ Cynder thought, but the wolf was far from beyond listening to their reasons now. He was already below the two dragons and his fur glowed with an immense surge of electricity. The two dragons looked down at him as the glow caught their attention; they could see the smirking face on the wolf clearly even when the sun is setting.

"Thunder…"

"That's enough." A voice said, making all four of them turned their heads to their right. There was an entire pack of wolves now; an elderly figure appeared at the head of the group. He was a wolf just like the one that was attack the group, but he was bigger and his shoulders were much more broad then the younger wolf. His eyes were a dull grey, but they were full of wisdom beyond what most beings see in their life time. The young wolf immediately stopped charging what could have been his strongest attack and lowered his body to the ground. The elder wolf walked up to the young one and frowned, not happy at the sight of their battle.

"Okami, what did I tell you about attacking visitors right away?" the elder asked.

"But elder," Okami began, "they have the stench of the Dark Master's minions on their hides! If we let them into our village they could be spying on us for more of their kind!"

"Nonsense," the elder said, "I know who these dragons are."

Cynder looked confused as she slowly floated down to the ground with Cryo. The elder wolf walked up to them and smiled friendly, Cryo however was still ready for anything that could happen.

"I know that Ignitus sent you three out here." The elder said, smiling with great happiness now. "He told me that we shall encounter three traveling younglings who seek the great deity."

"How do you know about Ignitus?" Cynder asked.

"Well I'm pretty sure a big red dragon isn't hard to notice Cyn." Sparx said sarcastically.

"Shut up before I burn you." She said to him.

The elder chuckled a bit to himself, behind him Okami walked up to his side. He glared at Cryo before sitting down next to his elder who sat down as well. The old wolf nodded his head once at the three, assuring them that they would not be attacked by anyone in his pack. It took a while to get Cryo to agree to sit down, but finally he did.

"I am Raiokami," he told them, "the elder of the village below and head of the hunting pack." He turned his head to his left, looking down at the young wolf by him. "This is my son, Okami. He is next in line for the leadership of the pack, but he did however inherit his mother's impatience."

"We could see that the moment we met." Cryo said bitterly, Okami gave him a look before his father glared at him.

"Now young dragon," Raiokami said, "there is no need to hold hostility towards each other. The war between the dragons and wolves ended years ago, let go of the past."

Cryo kept silent, for some reason Cynder could tell that he had some bad experiences with some wolves before she met him. The black dragon shook her head and turned back to the elder with a friendly smile this time. Sparx flew up and landed on her head, she looked up at him annoyed but she could see that his wings were getting tired from flapping constantly.

"My name is Cynder," she told him, "the guy on my head is Sparx and our companion is Cryo."

"Yes I see," Raiokami nodded his head at their names, "you seek the great deity yes?"

"Yeah we do," Sparx said, "we kinda need to find him and have him teach us what he knows so we can put an end to the Dark Master once and for all."

"No one just goes and sees the Great One like that!" Okami said, his impatience sprung up again along with his feet. "Our tribe has rituals that must be followed if you are to meet with the Great One! To go and insult our tribe's ways without doing it properly is punishable!"

"Hey no one asked you to tell us what to do," Cryo said, "I think you should sit down and listen to the story more before you go making false conclusions."

"I warn you…" Okami began, but the low growl from his father's voice was enough to make him stop.

"Despite my son's rudeness," Raiokami said, "why do you seek the Great One? One does not normally grant an audience with him so easily."

Cynder looked at Sparx and Cryo, the two of them nodded their heads to her. She turned back to Raiokami with a sad look on her face now; the elder wolf raised an eyebrow at her. The black dragon sighed, fighting off any tears that would try to force their way out of her eyes.

"The purple dragon, Spyro, he was taken by the Dark Master's forces and he has turned evil…" she explained, "We want to see the Great One because we believe that he could help us. Please elder; let us stay for the night so that we can regain our strength from our weary travels. That is all that we ask for."

Raiokami's eyes seemed to understand the pain she was feeling inside of her and slowly nodded his head at her. The black dragon smiled weakly as one tear got through her defenses, it was already hard enough to deal with Spyro being her enemy again but talking about it was even harder now. The elder wolf turned to the pack behind him and they all sat as soon as his gaze was upon them.

"These three come from the Dragon Elder temple and are not our enemies," he told them, "we shall provide them with food, shelter, and a guide to the Great One. No one is to attack them, is that understood?"

The pack howled into the air, acknowledging their leader's command. Raiokami turned to his son, who could do nothing but keep the anger he was feeling inside of him. Okami noticed the look his father was giving him; he kept his mouth closed to show his parent the respect that any parent should deserve. The pack turned around and began their descent to the valley below them with the trio following them from the sky. That night, the trio was enjoyed a peaceful evening that was full of food, water, and warm water for them to clean any cuts that had become infected.

Cynder enjoyed the peace of the valley; it reminded her of how things were back at the Dragon Temple before the current events happened. She stood outside on her porch alone, gazing at the stars above. She could make out many of the dragon constellations that were above, legends spoke of the past dragons watching them from the night sky as guardians. If that was true then they could have stopped her when she was still a servant to the Dark Master or stop Spyro now. If they truly were watching something would have happened, she sighed and closed her eyes.

"This makes it almost a week since Spyro turned…." She told herself, "If I can just find the deity everything will be fine."

She heard footsteps behind her, Raiokami came up to her with a small smile on his face. Cynder smiled back a bit, though it was clear that she was still sad. The elder wolf came to her side and looked out to the village.

"Peaceful is it not?" he asked.

"It's beautiful." She said, nothing she had seen before was this pretty to her eyes.

"Yes, the Thunder Tribe has lived here for many years in peace. We are a tribe that is strong, brave, and know honor better then anything in the world." Raiokami said, smiling with pride. "But even now I fear something will happen."

"I hope you do understand that we are not here to cause trouble," Cynder said, "Spyro was tricked into becoming evil I can still see he has good in him…but I…" her eyes swelled with tears, "It should have been me! He's too good of a person to become evil!"

"Now there youngling," Raiokami said, "Do not blame yourself for these recent events."

"But it's true!" The black dragon said, "I knew something was wrong in his feelings I could sense it! If I talked to him before the day he ran from home none of this would have happened!"

Cynder's tears fell off her face this time, pain and guilt were what the elder saw from her. He moved his long tail to her face and whipped her damped face gently. The young dragon was still crying, but her face was not as wet as it once was. Raiokami frowned; he had seen the pain she was feeling long ago.

"I know of the pain you feel child," he said, "I saw the same thing in my son's eyes years ago."

"W-What?" Cynder asked, tears still coming from her eyes.

"I know that my son seemed rash and impatient," the elder said, "that trait he got from his mother. It was many years ago when it happened, but I think neither me nor my son will forget it. It is a sad story, are you sure you want to hear it?"

Cynder nodded her head to the elder wolf to continue the story. Raiokami sighed and laid on the ground with her. His eyes focused on the village below him.

"Okami's mother was indeed impatient and would lash out at those who angered her, but she was also a good willed person. She taught Okami everything she knew about combat and the values of honor and respect. One day though we were attacked by a horde of rouge dragons."

"Rouge dragons?" Cynder asked, knowing how dangerous they could be, "what happened?"

"Naturally our children were more important then our own lives, so we hurried them to a shelter while we fought the dragons away. However while I thought my son was safe within the shelter, what I saw scared both me and my wife." Raiokami's voice seemed to trail off a bit, sadness was now in his eyes.

"Something happened didn't it?" Cynder asked.

"Okami had jumped out of no where at one of the whelping dragons," the elder explained, "while he was fighting with it and nearly killed it the mother dragon saw my song and attacked. My wife saw this and jumped in front of the dragon, her body was slashed badly by the dragon's claws. My son was so distorted by the sight of his mother near death by a huge cut that his body began to shake with anger…"

Cynder could see the sadness that was in his eyes, the memory was still fresh in his mind it seemed. None the less, Raiokami continued to tell the story of the events that happened.

"When he lost control of his temper, he unleashed his strongest attack upon the dragons. The rouges left after many had died from the battle, but Okami stayed by his mother's side crying."

"He feels guilty because he did something that caused his mother's life to become forfeit…" Cynder said, surprised at the event of what had happened years ago.

As Raiokami continued the story of his son for Cynder, Okami was just sitting outside of the villages gates watching the forest in front of him. He snarled at the thought of dragons staying in his safe village, it angered him to no end. It was because of dragons that caused his mother to die, why his father was being so friendly to them made no sense. Still, he respected his father more then he hated dragons and did not attempt to attack the dragons. He just kept watching the forest, never taking his eyes off it for a second.

However, no one noticed that something was watching them. Not Spyro, but someone who would be known as a fearful being in the Dark Realm. A captain and his squad waiting for the right moment to strike…


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

He is called Grom, captain of the Dark Army's attack force. Being the leader, he answered to no one but Kel'thuzard and the Dark Master himself. Once upon a time he was a mighty silver back gorilla, one who ruled over all the others. Then the day came that another challenged him, costing him not only his leadership but also his life. As Grom laid on the ground dying, he watched as his group slowly walked away with their new leader. He fought to get up, but his body had finally reached his limits and he could no longer move. Grom died on that very day, it was something that would stay with him forever.

The thought of that angered him as he died. Him a powerful silver back that lead an entire group died. He hated the thought of how his group was now under the leadership of a new male. He did not want to die, he fought back against the forces that were slowly taking his life away with all his might but it was no use. It seemed fate wanted the mighty ape to die that day.

However someone was watching Grom from the very start. He had seen every ordeal that the might ape has faced and he was very impressed. Grom felt his strength returning to him and a voice as well. The voice was still fresh in his mind even to this day; he could remember the words clearly.

"I've been watching you," it said, "Your strength is greatly impressive and I could use a powerful being like you. I shall return you back to your life, but from now on you answer only to me."

Not being one to die, Grom took the offer of the voice. Power coursed through his veins, power he knew that could not be matched easily. He fought his way out of the grip of death and returned to the realm of the living. At first he had the intention of returning to his group to reclaim his leadership, but the voice that had given him his new life and taken his freedom away. Grom tried to fight back, but in the end he could not fight the power of darkness that had now taken over him. After all, no one walks away from the Dark Master's grip that easily.

Grom was appointed as Captain of the attack force of the Dark Master. He, along with three other captains, were the leaders of four different groups. To be perfectly honest, Grom did not like his co-workers nor did they like him. Each time they met tension would build up between all four of them, some even tried to betray the others however the Dark Master did not approve of their actions. Grom had suffered many punishments for making his master angry, he knew of the pain and torment that he could cause.

But now this was his chance. The master had sent him and no other to find the traitor Cynder and kill her along with anyone else that stood in their way. It could have been a simple mission, but he snorted to himself as he stared at the village from the safe spot in the forest. Wolves were fierce fighters and they had large numbers, he had a handful of brutes with amazing power in their muscles.

"Damn these wolves," he whispered, "if only I had brought more men."

The gorilla jumped down to his ogres and the soldiers that came with them. The group he had brought with him were not many but they had true power in their veins. Grom nodded to his men and singled them to move out; following their captain's orders the group began to move around fast so none of the wolves in the tribe could see them. Grom could not help but turn around to see the same lone wolf standing in front of the gate, watching as if he knew they were coming.

Okami did not let off his watch from the gate. It was like this every night, he would stand guard and protect his village from danger. The fact that dragons were here only made it worse for him, after all dragons did murder his mother. His father however would ask him a question that he could not bring himself to answer.

"Was it really the dragon's fault? Or was it your ego that caused your mother to sacrifice her live for you?"

The young wolf hated that question; it was still burned into his mind. All of it would haunt him even in his dreams. His mother's death, the dragons, all of it. He growled in frustration as he bit down at the ground in anger. He hated life and it's challenges, nothing seem to be right anymore. Suddenly he heard footsteps from behind him. He turned his head to see Cynder, who had just gotten back from talking with his father. He gave her a dirty look and turned his head back to the forest, pretending she wasn't there.

"What do you want dragon?" he asked coldly.

Cynder frowned as she walked up to Okami's side and sat beside him, but only a few feet apart. The black dragon offered a friendly smile to him, but Okami did his best to ignore it.

"Your dad told me about what happened to you," she said softly, "I'm so sorry to hear it…"

"Not like you really care," Okami said as he laid down on the ground, "Dragons don't really care for who they kill, as long as they get what they want."

"That's not true," Cynder said, "Rouge Dragons are like that but the rest of us aren't."

"What makes you so sure that you're not all alike?" the young wolf said, not even looking at her this time.

"Because I've seen a kind dragon, I know what true kindness, Spyro showed me that and even if he is evil, I still believe that he has goodness in him…"

Okami didn't look at Cynder, but he did listen to the words she was saying. Her voice did sound like it was telling the truth, and who knows maybe not all dragons were bad like he thought they were. But he kept telling himself to always hate dragons, never could he trust them. But why was it that this dragon seemed so different? It confused him, but he didn't seem so angry that much now.

"Okami, if you don't learn to forgive yourself all that will come out of it is you becoming something you're not." Cynder said, "I've seen that in Ignitus, he blames himself for the raid on our nest when Spyro and I were eggs and he blames himself for Spyro turning evil. I should take that blame though," the black dragon lowered her head, "your father gave me faith again though."

Okami didn't even try to retort to her this time. After hearing all of the things his father had told her he began to slowly understand. The young wolf looked up at her and gave a small smile at her, which was not as easy as it looked for him.

"I guess you're right." He admitted.

Cynder smiled as the two of them turned to go back into the village. Maybe the wolf wasn't that bad after all; he seemed to be friendlier now after their converstation. However he stopped walking as his fur stood up, the young wolf growled as he turned around to the gate snarling.

"What is it?" Cynder asked.

"I smell something foul…" Okami answered, "Dark Soldiers and something even worse then them."

Cynder froze in that spot, members of the Dark Army were here? How could that be? She was sure that she had thrown them off track by depressing her dark powers; there was no way that they could have found her that fast. Okami looked up at Cynder, his eyes now pale and full of anger.

"Did you lead them here?!" he asked angrily.

"No! I promise you we didn't!" Cynder told him, "We would never lead them here!"

"Well explain how they got here then." Okami said sharply, his anger seeming to return.

"It's because they have a captain." A voice said, the two looked up and saw Cryo staring out at the forest as well.

"Cryo, how did you figure that out?" Cynder asked.

"Dark Soldiers are not that smart," the icy dragon told them, "do you really think they along with a couple of brutes would be able to find this place?"

The trio kept quiet for a while, Okami looked to his left. His father was standing by his side, looking out at the gate as well. The elder wolf looked down at his son and smiled a bit, for some reason Okami felt better knowing his father was by his side.

"My son, do not think you are in this fight alone." Raiokami told him, motioning his head to his right. By his side were the warriors of the tribe, each one ready to lay down their lives for their village. This made the young wolf regain his hope for the upcoming battle. Cynder looked up and saw Sparx flying down towards them, he was panting and almost out of breath.

"They got big ogres with them! And it looks like their leader is a big gorilla that has seen hell and back!" the panting dragonfly told them.

"Grom…" Cynder whispered to herself, she knew that he was the only gorilla that her former master had.

"This is where we stand," Raiokami told his warriors, "this is where they die. Protect our home with all your might!"

The wolves howled with courage as their leader spoke these words. Okami seemed to howl along with them, his spirits renewed and his faith in his father restored. The two dragons looked at each other and nodded to one another. Cryo landed in front of Raiokami, avoiding Okami's glare.

"We would like to help you in this battle." He told the elder.

"We don't need a dragon's help." Okami said with a grudging tone in his voice.

"Like it or not we're just as strong as you are." Cryo told the wolf, "Plus we've had experience with these scum bags before."

"Okami they are to fight by our side in this battle," the elder told him, "we will need all the help we can get."

The young wolf did not argue this time. But he did snarl at Cryo as the icy dragon walked up to Cynder's side. The black dragon saw Okami's eyes, they were full of distrust in the two dragons, but he nodded his head once at her. The army of wolves and the two of them stared out ahead and waited for the soldiers to make their move.

They had not to wait for a second longer; the dark soldiers came charging towards them at full speed. The wolves stood their ground and waiting for the moment to attack, waiting for Raiokami's signal to strike. The soldiers kept charging at them until they were about 10 yards from their village. That's when the elder wolf howled to attack, the wolves jumped at the command while the two dragons flew into the air following them. There was a loud crash as the two forces collided in battle, wolves were biting soldiers and killing them easily while some of them were in mortal combat with the others.

Cynder easily dodged any arrows from those who carried bows and arrows with them. She blew out her flame towards those on the ground and burnt them to the earth while Cryo was freezing those who attacked him. Okami was having his own enjoyment as well, blasting those who got in his way with his lighting attacks brought much joy to his well being and the sight of them yelling in pain was even more fun for him.

The battle seemed to drag on for ours on end, neither side giving in at all. However, the wolves did not expect the giant ogres of the army to be right behind the soldiers. The giant brutes stomped their way into the battle field, each one grunting and snarling at the battle. They roared angrily as they charged into the battle field, each step they took made the ground shake. Cynder looked up and noticed the monsters approaching, this was not good. The ogres of Grom were powerful beings; the fight had just gone from bad to worse. Okami didn't seem to care one way or another about who had come to battle them; he just kept blasting anything in his way with his thunder. The ogres slammed down their clubs down hard onto the ground, most of them catching wolves off guard with a quick swing of their massive clubs or kicking them aside.

Cryo flew above the battle, watching and waiting for the right moment to attack. The ogres maybe stupid, but they are by no means an easy force to beat. He spotted his chance to attack and flew towards the ground quickly. He caught one ogre off guard and charged into him at full speed from his dive; he slammed the giant into the ground hard as he jumped away quickly before freezing the giant in a frozen statute.

Cynder was jumping back from the clubs the ogres were swinging; she knew too well how to defeat them. She had been trained how to defeat them by Grom himself so it made it easy for her. She ran under one and blasted him from behind with her blue fire, taking him off guard. She repeated the same process with the next bunch of ogres until finally they were all scorched on the back. She smirked as she whispered to herself silently.

"Boom."

The scorch marks on the ogres' backs began to burn even more now. The clumsy giants yelled in pain as they tried desperately to reach their backs. They couldn't though; they kept slamming into each other causing even more searing fire to come from their marks. Finally the flames consumed all of them until there was nothing left but burnt bones on the ground. Cynder smiled to herself, it was nice to smell burning ash again. However that thought made her shudder at the dark powers in her veins, she then turned her attention to the battle again.

Grom growled to himself as he watched the battle from the forest. The soldiers were proving useless as usual and his ogres, as strong as they were, weren't doing the best against two dragons and a lighting charged wolf. He would soon have to step into the battle himself; he pounded his chest once to single to his men to pull back. The soldiers stopped their battle and looked up in confusion, but did what he said. The ogres nodded stupidly to each other as they pulled back as well. It was his turn to deal with these wolves now, the dragons would be on his list to destroy as well.

The tribe of wolves looked confused to why the dark army was retreating, at first they thought they had won the battle. However that was not it at all, Cynder could smell his stench even as the rotting bodies of the ogres filled her nose with his awful smell. Cryo looked at her, almost confused himself. The black dragon just nodded her head once as they heard footsteps approaching them.

"I know those footsteps too well…" Cynder said to Cryo, "it's one of the captains…"

Cryo looked up at the forest as Okami snarled by them. The giant gorilla finally came into view as he made his way out of the forest. His black fur was now a dark purple which seemed to glow in the sunlight, his hard and stern face was scared from the many battles he had seen in his life and his eyes were completely empty. All emotion was whipped out of his face as he slowly made his way to the battle field. He stopped halfway as he looked down at Cynder, who bore her glistering teeth at him.

"So young dragon," he said in a gruff voice, "we meet again."

"Grom," Cynder said in a low voice, "Out of all the captains I should have expected you."

"Yes you should have traitor." The gorilla gruffly said, turning his head towards the pack, "You wolves are powerful beings, I do not wish to waste such blood on this earth. Join the Dark Army and you shall become my most trusted unit."

"Never!" Okami yelled at Grom, charging at him full speed.

"Okami! No!" his father yelled, but the young wolf did not stop at his father's command. He kept running towards Grom full speed, only to get a fist slammed across his face. The young wolf flew to the right a bit before sliding across the ground, he growled in anger at the gorilla before getting up.

"_This guy is different,"_ he thought, "_he actually sounds like he means business."_

"Come now," Grom said, reaching to his back to scratch it, "I would rather break your bones believe me, but I'm offering you a chance to be spared the pain the Dark Master will deliver to this land when he conquers it. Your tribe and land will forever be in peace, as long as you do what he says."

Cynder snorted at that offer, it was insult to here that lie again. Grom looked down and smirked at her evilly, baring his yellow and rotten teeth at her. Cryo looked towards Okami; the two didn't give each other a death glare but nodded in a truce as true rivals would do. They turned their attention towards the giant ape, who scratched his back again in annoyance.

"Your flea problem is a bit too much though," he said sarcastically, "how can you survive these things?"

"We don't get fleas you ignorant ape." Okami snarled, that was the line that had pushed Grom to his limits. The one-time silver back stood up on his legs and pounded his chest with pride.

"You've done it now little brat, now you will receive no mercy from me. I offered you protection from the Dark Master's wrath, but now you leave me no choice but to destroy all of you!"

The gorilla slammed his fists on the ground, causing a crack in the earth to split open. Cryo jumped into the air to avoid the crack while Cynder pushed Okami away from it. The crack expanded more and more until it nearly reached the village, just stopping in the nick of time due to the tribe's members that could use the power of earth. Okami snarled at the giant gorilla and began shooting blasts of electricity at him. Grom smirked and merely smacked aside the bolts with one hand. Cynder wasn't surprised by this; he was the biggest of the captains after all. So his endurance was expected to be a lot better then the others'.

Cryo flapped his wings once to cause a blistery wind to fly towards Grom. The giant gorilla looked up at the wind coming his way and jumped back to avoid becoming frozen on the spot. Cryo didn't waste any time now; he charged straight down at the ape at full speed and slammed his head into his gut. Grom snarled from the hit, grabbed Cryo with one hand and tossed him to his right. Cynder saw her chance to attack again, she spat out a powerful blue flame that smacked right onto Grom's chest, causing a sizzling pain for the gorilla. Not being one to miss a chance to attack, Okami blasted another bolt of lighting at the gorilla while the blue flame continued to burn into his skin.

Grom didn't yell in pain from the attacks, he had felt much worse then this and he dared not wanted to anger the force that had caused him that pain. He pulled his arms back and brought them fore to clap them, which caused a shockwave to explode in front of him. Cynder, Cryo, and Okami went flying back a few good yards before being able to regain their balance. Cynder wasn't surprised; she had seen him do this type of tactic before.

"Damn," Okami snarled, "he's not as weak as I thought he would be."

"Of course he isn't," Cryo said as he landed by Cynder, "he's the brute strength of the captains."

"We gotta be careful you two." Cynder told them, "He'll crush us if we don't play right here."

Grom smirked and punched the ground again; this caused a barrage of rocks to fly up at the three fighters. Quick to dodge them, Okami sped up his lighting blasts and continued to shoot multiple blasts at the giant gorilla. Grom didn't flinch at all from the attacks, but they were taking their effect on him slowly. He drew back his fist and threw it towards the ground again, this time the boulder from the ground went straight towards Okami. Before the wolf could dodge again however it slammed into him hard, sending him back a few feet from the battle. Cynder snarled as she flew towards Grom while he was off guard. The black dragon wrapped her long tail around his neck and began to hard around his throat trying to drag him down.  
Grom snarled at this attempt, it didn't really bother him but Cynder's tail was infamous for being very long. Even for someone like him with his superior strength, it wouldn't do him much good if he could not break the grip of her tail off his neck. The gorilla snarled and began to reach for a part of her tail that he could use to his advantage and began to swing her around in a fast circle. This loosened the grip her tail on him, but she was able to get out of the spinning rotation by blasting his feet with a quick flame.

Cynder flew back a couple of feet away from Grom as he jumped around like an idiot from the burning heat his feet were feeling. The gorilla glared at her with hate in his eyes and threw his fist right at her, this time it made contact with her mid section knocking the wind out of her. Cryo had seen enough, he charged right towards Grom at full speed blasting a powerful ice beam at him. The gorilla's left face soon became completely enclosed in ice. Grom growled in frustration as he took a few steps back from Cynder and tried to get the frozen ice off his face. Cryo landed by his comrade and looked at her.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Cynder said painfully, "I didn't expect him to do that though, Grom isn't the brightest thing on the planet."

"We have to end this now," Cryo told her, "if this keeps going on then the village could be whipped out."

Grom finally managed to free his face from the ice that had frozen it. The gorilla was so enraged that dark flames spewed from his fur. Cynder knew those dark flames well; they were the Dark Master's flames, the same ones that had taken over her and the ones that now possessed Spyro. The giant turned to the village in anger and roared loudly, unleashing a powerful black flame towards Raiokami and his warriors. Cynder knew that if the flame hit them they would not survive it. She knew that only one who had touched the flames of the Dark Master and lived were the only ones that could take the hit. She opened her wings and flew towards the black blast that was getting closer and closer to the wolves.

Okami watched as he struggled to get up, a dragon was racing towards an attack that was aimed for his people? Why would she do that? They were completely different species but yet she was going to take his attack? He was confused, but then he remembered what she told him. That she would do anything to protect the ones she cared for. His eyes shrunk at shock as he saw her take the attack for the tribe, her yell of pain made his body shake with guilt. She had just tried to be friendly with him and yet he only pushed her away from him, rejecting any offering for friendship. He looked at Grom, who seemed somewhat pleased with himself of his attack.

That's when Okami's logic and reasoning was cast away. His anger towards Grom had taken control of him as lighting began to crackle around his body. Soon his silver fur was glowing with power just like before; his ultimate attack was charging up with such huge speeds it was almost unbelievable. The energy he was creating was obviously very powerful as it lifted the rocks that Grom had used to rise up on the ground. The energy was not unnoticeable though, the giant gorilla saw the attack charging and his eyes shrunk. If an attack like that was fired he could be paralyzed for a life time.

Okami's body was now burning with electricity as the lighting crackled all over his fur. His power was so immense that the ground beneath him began to crack and rumble. The giant gorilla charged towards him with the intention of destroying him before the attack could be launched, but he was too late at Okami's voice rang out from the energy.

"THUNDER BLITZ!"

The powerful energy surged out of Okami's silver fur straight towards Grom, taking the form of a wolf made of lighting. The giant gorilla couldn't stop the attack as it slammed into him at full force. Pain seared throughout his whole body, pain that could kill a normal mortal as it carried him away into the forest where his troops watched. They took were consumed by the lighting, then there was a loud explosion of power from the forest. Killing all but the giant gorilla, who could barely move as the darkness began to take him back to his world of darkness.

Okami's senses soon returned to him after Grom left his sight. He ran up to the pack and to where Cynder had fallen. He felt guilty for becoming a jerk towards her; he looked down at her form with a sad face.

"I'm sorry…" he said softly.

He heard her sigh a little bit, but then heard her chuckle. He looked down at her and noticed that she was smiling.

"Apology accepted."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Author's note/rant: Ya know, it's nice to know that I have actual smart people who love to read my stories and comment when they love it. But something has been bugging me for sometime now, it's with people who do nothing but tell the author of the story what to write. Seriously, I've noticed too many PMs from people who haven't even COMMENTED on the story about killing off Cryo or telling me what I should write instead of what I want to right. So I will say this just once to everyone on who tries to tell me what to write, SHUT THE HELL UP. Seriously, I'm not one to snap at those who like the story, but for God's sake; do not tell me what should happen in the story when I already know what I've got planned. If you want a fanfic to go your way, do yourself and everyone a favor, WRITE YOUR OWN. I swear to God, this shit is getting really old and I'm sick and tired of seeing it. This especially goes for those who write like 90 word stories with bad grammar, bad spelling, and just plain bad story telling. How the hell do these guys get all the reviews and faves if their stories aren't even as long as mine or anyone else on this site who actually gives a damn about writing a fanfic like a REAL author? One of my best friends, Deus Ex Procella, is a fantastic writer and he writes some of the best fanfiction I have ever read in my life and this guy has the talent to become a PROFESSIONAL writer one day. But yet his talent goes largely unnoticed because of the shit for brains thinking that a 90 word story is so much better then something that actually resembles a book. It's starting to piss me off and these people, who can't spell, can't type a story, and demand others to write what THEY want need to seriously shut up and get off or better yet, the entire internet. For those of you who are like this (and you KNOW who you are) I suggest you stop being like this, actually type out full sentences, do grammar check, correct your goddamn typos and actually PAY attention to what you are writing. Anyway, besides that little rant, I know I haven't updated the story in forever, but I do believe that it is time to get this thing up again and finish it.

Miles away from the battle with Grom, a vortex from the Dark Realm opened up once again. From within it emerged the forced duo, Spyro and Glacia. Spyro looked around; this was part of the forest he did not know as well. He snorted a bit; dark flames replaced his once red flames. If there was one thing the fallen purple dragon did not like, it was not knowing where he exactly was.

"Dammit," he muttered, "not only am I forced to work with you, but now we are in a location that I don't know."

"S-Sir I think I know where we are…" the timid tigress said, flinching as Spyro turned his head sharply towards her.

"And where exactly are we Glacia?" he asked, a low growl forming in his voice.

"The F-Forbidden forest s-s-sir," Glacia said, shaking in fear a bit as he approached ever so closely. "It's a place that holds an item that Lord Kel'thuzard wants for himself."

Spyro raised an eyebrow towards this statement; the gorgon was conspiring against his master? It didn't sound like it would be something that Kel'thuzard would do, especially against a being so powerful that even the mention of him struck fear into the bravest mortal's heart. He turned away from Glacia and began walking into the forest.

"And why does Kel'thuzard want this item?" he asked calmly.

"He seeks it because he knows of an upcoming fight with someone…someone who is close to me." Glacia answered her voice dropping almost to a quiet whisper.

"Who is this someone that is close to you?"

Glacia was silent for a moment; something that Spyro learned happened often whenever he asked her about her past. He finally got tired of the silence and slammed his tail on the ground, shaking the earth below them with his earth powers. Glacia shrieked in terror before regaining her balance, Spyro snarled once more as she trembled nervously.

"Tell me or I swear to the Dark Master I will send you straight to the Earth's core!"

"My brother, Cryo! Please don't hurt me!"

Spyro snorted again as he began walking once more, the sound of Glacia's running to catch up to him could be heard throughout the whole forest. The forced duo did not speak for sometime, the sounds of the Forbidden Forest were the only thing that kept the seemingly endless forest from being completely silent. The two, despite Spyro's occasional glare, stuck together as they continued to travel deeper into the forest. Soon though they came to a large lake, which was full of dark and murky water.

"It's a dead end." Spyro mused, "It seems like that whatever Kel'thuzard is after is close."

"Sir, there is no way around the lake." Glacia said, this got her a glance from the dragon.

"And what makes you say that?"  
The tigress took one of her claws and pointed towards the left and right of the lake. The water stretched on for miles on miles that seemed to never end. Glacia lowered her head again, waiting for his response.

"I have superior vision sir," she said, "I have looked both ways and I have not seen any sign of land on either."

"Impressive." Spyro said, "And you're absolutely sure about this?"

"Y-Yes sir."

A smile slipped onto Spyro's face; this was first for Glacia, as all she ever received from him up to this point was glares and snarls. The purple dragon however seemed very please with what she was capable of. She noticed him raising a wing up, she flinched as she closed her eyes expecting to be hit by his wing. However she felt a gentle pat on her head instead of a smack. She opened one eye and saw that Spyro was still smiling.

"Good," he said, "very good, Glacia."

He took a few steps towards the lake, his mouth glowing whitish blue. In no time at all he blasted the lake with his ice breath freezing with little to no ease at all. Soon a bridge began to form, one that reached all the way to the other side of the lake. Spyro sighed as he finally finished his task; even though it wasn't really a problem for him to form a bridge of ice, it did bring back memories of his training with the Dragon Elders.

"Sir," Glacia said from behind, "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine." Spyro said quickly, not wanting Glacia to see him thinking of his past.

"We have to move, don't fall behind me or I will burn this bridge up the moment you start lagging."

"Y-Yes sir!"

Wasting no time at all the duo continued their journey. All the time, Spyro occasionally glanced to the left and right making sure that nothing would suddenly burst out and attack them. He noticed Glacia was on guard as well, if a fight broke out while they were walking the ice bridge would break. Spyro knew that he could fly over the lake, but even he would grow tired from endless flight. The silence continued for a good time before there was a sudden howl from the forest; Glacia froze in fear.

"Oh no..."

"What is it?" Spyro asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"W-W-Wolves," she said, "they are the top predators in these parts."

"I thought wolves had evolved past the point of hunting in forests." Spyro said, almost curious about why such revered creatures would revert back to their primitive ways.

"T-Those would be the northern wolves, sir, these wolves are still connected to the wild." Glacia answered.

"Now that is very interesting indeed." Spyro mused, slowly lowering himself to the ground.

The duo soon found themselves back to back, both of them poised for any battle that might come to them. Glacia trembled in fear; the thought of fighting her species natural rival was not a pleasant one. Spyro, on the other hand, was ready for any fight to broke out. He turned his head towards Glacia who was still trembling in fear.

"Do not run," he said, "if they attack us we shall strike back."

Glacia's eyes widened at that comment, she didn't want to fight the wild wolves but at the same time she did not want to anger Spyro. She pawed the ground nervously, eyes still wide with fear as the sounds of running paws came closer. Spyro snorted only once as he tapped Glacia on the back with his wing.

"Do I make myself clear?" he asked.

"Y-Y-Yes sir…" Glacia responded, her voice near to cracking.

Both of them turned their attention back to the matter at hand. Spyro was anxious to fight since his last battle with Cynder weighed heavy on his mind. His muscles tensed a bit, waiting for the right moment to strike. He would not have to wait for very long at all.

Out of no where two giant wolves jumped out of the bushes besides them. Spyro snarled as he jumped up to one of the incoming wolves and tackling him to the ground. Before the wolf could have a chance to throw Spyro off him, the purple dragon was able to bite down around his foe's neck with a crushing force. Finally Spyro then pulled up the wolf with all his strength, throwing the rogue into a tree at full force.

Glacia, was not as fortunate as Spyro, the second wolf was already on her back, slashing and biting her with its claws and jaws. The tigress yelped in surprise as she tried to shake off her attacker with all her might, but it wasn't of any use. The wolf continued its assault as it slash and tore at her back, the tigress closed her eyes as she reared up on her hind legs and slammed both the wolf and her back onto the ground.

Spyro continued his attack on the first wolf, slashing with his claws at full force. The wolf yelped in pain at each slash, it was clearly obvious that this wolf was not used to having a foe that was capable of fighting back so well. Spyro jumped back a few feet as his mouth began to glow with orange red energy, with a quick movement of his head he spat out a large flame that consumed the wolf. The flames were so intense that the rogue wolf howled in pain as his body literally turned to ash. Spyro snorted as the flames died down; to him this victory was hallowed.

Glacia was now the lucky one; she turned her attention towards the second wolf, as it staggered to get up. With a loud roar she charged into her attacker's side at full force, causing the wolf to yelp in shock. She then took one of her claws and slashed the second wolf across his hind leg and blood ran freely from the fresh wound. The wolf howled in pain, trying desperately to stand despite having an injured leg. Glacia growled lowly as she raised her claw once more to strike the wolf.

"Stop."

Glacia turned her head towards Spyro, confused about his order. Spyro walked to her side and looked down at the wolf, watching him struggle to get up. He closed his eyes and then opened them once more as he let loose a stream of ice from his mouth. The ice covered the wolf's leg and wound completely. The wolf looked at his frozen leg, then back towards Spyro.

"I've given you another chance," Spyro explained, "the ice that envelops your leg has healing powers within it and over time as your wound heals the ice will melt. Now you have a choice, you can either run escape with your life or I'll take it from you."

The wolf, although it was considered primitive for still choosing to be wild, did understand basic speech. Slowly pushing itself up, it began to walk away from Spyro and Glacia. Before it walked completely out of their view, it turned its head back towards the duo and howled. Spyro smiled somewhat, he knew that one day that this wolf would return for another round. His attention was then aimed towards Glacia, who was breathing heavily from the wounds she received in battle.

"You fought well," he told her, "but I was expecting you to kill when the moment calls for it."

"S-Sorry Sir," Glacia stammered, "I just…never killed anything before."

Spyro looked up towards the sky, he noticed it was getting darker the more time they spent talking.

"We better get moving, dusk is almost upon us."

Glacia nodded once and followed Spyro as he began walking once more. Night time in the forest was not the safest of times. Even for the strongest of the Dark Master's forces they would have to be careful as they could be now; which was something that rarely even occurred. Spyro and Glacia kept walking; both of them keeping their eyes open for any sign of trouble that might happen.

It would be another hour before the two reached their destination. It was a large circular place where directly in the middle was a podium that held a whip like weapon in place. The whip itself was nearly 20 ft in length and its handle was crafted with a metallic-color with a cobra-shaped with two glowing rubies for the eyes. The sight of the weapon stunned Spyro; it was a weapon that only pure evil could ever dream of using.

"This place…" he said, eyeing the small podium that stood in the center of the circle, "It has evil's stench all over it."

"B-Be careful sir," Glacia stuttered, "something could be here."

Spyro didn't respond to Glacia, his attention was fully on the podium. He took one step into the circle, hypnotized by the dark aura the whip was giving out. The weapon was extremely powerful, even from a distance you could feel the energy it was giving out. When he reached the podium he could feel the energy that was being given out was far stronger up close then it was from afar.

"Wonderful," he said, "absolutely wonderful."

He raised one of his claws up to touch the whip tempted to take the whip as his own and not give it to Kel'thuzard. As his claw touched the whip's handle, the ground below began to shake violently. Spyro nearly lost his footing as the ground continued to shake; he flapped his wings and began hovering over the ground to avoid the shaking but little did he know that something was below him.

Just then out of the depths of the earth came out a hideous looking creature. Its jaws were covered by four mandibles that were long and powerful. Its eyes were slanted red, filled with bloodlust. The rest of its body was long in massive length, it lacked any limbs but Spyro could tell that the beast could move quickly despite its giant size. This abomination was known as a species that even the earth dragons feared, wyrm.  
"Glacia!" he yelled, "get away from the ground and fast!"

The tigress didn't need to be told twice, she was already on top of some fallen statues that surrounded the temple. Spyro snarled as he spat a large flame into the mouth of the giant wyrm, scorching it badly on the inside. The wyrm shrieked in pain as it dove back into the earth, seeking protection from the flames. Spyro kept his senses at high alert, waiting for the moment that the wyrm would turn around and strike.

He wouldn't have to wait long though; the wyrm was already on its second attack run. It attacked from Spyro's left, mouth open wide with the intention of swallowing the purple dragon whole. Spyro didn't let it get close to him as he blasted a bolt of electricity into the wyrm's mouth, shocking its tongue with a thousand volts. The wyrm snarled at this and dove into the earth yet again to avoid the electric shock.

Spyro growled, he wasn't exactly in the mood to fight a giant creature that could appear anywhere from below. Had he sensed the wyrm earlier, he would have already destroyed it and return to the Dark Realm immediately. The ground below him began to shake violently once more; it didn't take long to him to realize where it was.

It was underneath him.

The wyrm sprouted out of the ground at such a high speed that Spyro didn't have time to breathe another blast of his elemental powers. Right before the wyrm reached him however, he incased himself in a large earth shield that protected him from the wyrm's giant mandibles and jaws. The wyrm hissed as it slammed the shield into the ground and began to burrow into the ground along with Spyro.

Spyro grumbled underneath his breathe, none of his attacks seemed to be working on this monster. It didn't seem to respond to anything element he used on it. Fire didn't scorch its throat, ice didn't freeze its insides, electricity didn't seem to stun it, and the sheer power of earth didn't even leave a dent into its hide. Spyro was bewildered to why nothing was working on the wyrm. He was the purple dragon, he's supposed to be the strongest being to ever walk on the planet but yet nothing he was using was working on the wyrm.

He suddenly saw light once again as the wyrm re-emerged from the ground. The giant creature began to swing its head back and forth, trying to fling the earth shield off of Spyro who could only sit inside the shield and wait for it to break. He snarled as he pushed more power into the shield, trying his best to keep it up at all times. The wyrm roared as it reared its head back and threw the shield hard into a pillar with such force that it forced the shield to break.

Spyro slammed onto the ground hard; it felt like every single bone in his body was in pain as he struggled to get up from the throw. He noticed the wyrm above his head once more, he knew that he couldn't defeat it alone; he closed his eyes and waited as the wyrm brought down its giant head towards the defeated purple dragon.

However, a loud roar came from nowhere as the wyrm brought down its head towards Spyro. The roar was so loud that Spyro couldn't even hear the beating of his own heart beat; he looked up and saw Glacia running towards the wyrm at full speed. Before the giant creature could turn around and attack the tigress, Glacia already jumped into the air and pulled back her large claws for an attack. With lighting speed she slashed at the wyrm's throat, cutting deep into the monster's thick skin.

She landed in front of Spyro ever so gracefully; the cut she left on the wyrm released a stream of dark red blood it began to choke to death. The wyrm fell to the ground, violently twitching as blood escaped its body. Spyro stared in disbelief at the sight; he then turned towards Glacia, flabbergasted for words.

"You…" he said quietly, "you managed to kill it…"

"I-I-I didn't want to s-see you die," Glacia stuttered, obviously still afraid of him, "or K-Kel'thuzard would hurt me."

Spyro rose to his feet, the pain he felt was at last leaving him. Then he did something he had not done for a long time. He smiled friendly at Glacia.

"Thank you, Glacia." He said, heading towards the whip. "Come on, we have a mission to complete."

Glacia nodded as she followed him towards the whip, this time walking by his side then behind him. The duo reached the whip, this time making sure that there was absolutely nothing surrounding them. When all seemed clear, Spyro reached up and grasped the whip in his claw. Power surged through his body, an ancient evil power that seemed as old as the Dark Master himself. He closed his eyes once and a Dark Portal opened once more to the Dark Realm. He gestured towards Glacia to follow him.

"Let's go, we got what we need."

The tigress nodded as they headed into the Dark Portal. In a flash they were back within the Dark Realm, right in the Dark Master's throne room. Kel'thuzard, who was standing next to the seemingly endless dark void, smiled as he slithered towards the two.

"Well done Spyro," he said, "well done indeed."

"You wanted this?" Spyro asked, throwing the whip towards Kel'thuzard.

"Ah yes," the gorgon said, picking up the whip, "very good indeed…this is just what I wanted."

Then with a flash he whipped his new weapon out. He smiled evilly as he pulled it back and then aimed it towards Glacia. With a quick thrust the whip flew towards the tigress and slashed into her skin. Glacia let out a loud surprise of pain at this action, once again reverting to the timid tigress she was before. Kel'thuzard smirked as he whipped her once again, making her cry in pain once more.

"What are you doing?!" Spyro yelled.

"Punishing her," the gorgon simply said, "obviously she was useless to you in this mission."

Spyro opened his mouth to tell Kel'thuzard what had happened, but the gorgon just whipped Glacia once again. Each whip brought a cry of sheer terror and pain from Glacia, she was crying as each hit touched her skin. Spyro stood there in anger, feeling almost powerless as the gorgon continued his assault upon his only friend in the Dark Realm. His only friend…

Author's Note: I dedicated this chapter to Deus Ex Procella, who's been my best friend and co-author for five years total. Go check out his section now :D


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